Atonement
by old-crow
Summary: Harry received some useful advice before the third task. The butterfly effect will be going full-speed. Not everyone is happy with the changes. Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

Atonement

Old-Crow, scribe

Summary

Harry received some useful advice before the third task. The butterfly effect will be going full-speed. Not everyone is happy with the changes. Enjoy

Style – I enjoy storytelling using PoVs from various characters rather than just Harry's perspective. There are about 50 characters used in this story. I rarely allow them to be potted plants doing nothing when off-camera. I also illustrate brief scenes before cutting to the next scene. If filmed, most single scenes wouldn't last longer than 20 seconds.

Ships – Not the main focus of this tale. There are occasional brief references to age-typical teen activities. Either read on or look at a different story.

Book compliancy – The story begins on June 24, 1995 – the evening of the third task with a huge change from Canon. A handful of pages are pretty brutal. Nothing following that night will be the same.

Disclaimer - JKR's sandbox, not mine. I'm having a blast pushing some of the piles around a bit and rearranging them. I'm amazed and beyond grateful that anyone would spend their time reading my twisted thoughts.

Wizarding etiquette – This and most fanfiction stories are written strictly on a hobby basis. I make no claim that it is error free. Any and all mistakes, both grammatical and story continuity are mine. This tale has largely been written to a first draft. If you enjoy my little stories and are willing to accept the quality level, please read on and leave a review here and there. I left some of my thoughts as notes. I'd love to read your thoughts. Finally, there are handful of O-Cs in my story. I would prefer to have heard from you once before I find them in your stories. That said, I briefly borrowed a character created by my favorite storyteller Robst as well as a magical item that I believe he created. I tried to take very good care of Barchoke and occasionally gave him grog. Thank you.

Enjoy.

Chapter one – The Unspoken Evening

Saturday - June 24, 1995

… - …

The man once known as Tom Riddle and Peter Pettigrew sat patiently waiting for a Portkey that may or may not arrive. Riddle's other servant; Barty Crouch Junior had no means of communicating his success or lack of it. The third task was scheduled to start at six PM and was expected to take between twenty minutes and an hour to complete.

They didn't know who, if anyone, would be coming, though Barty had assured them that Potter would be the most likely winner.

So they waited.

At 7:00, they saw the Portkey flash at the spot where Barty had been instructed to use as the destination point.

… - ...

Even though they had agreed to take the cup at the same time, Cedric was a split-second late. In a flash, Harry had vanished.

The fourteen year-old wizard rolled in a somersault as he landed near an old graveyard. Immediately, he took out his wand as he patted himself down to verify that the other equipment that his Godfather, Sirius Black had given him was still in place. He looked around but didn't immediately see anyone – rather he noticed the largest cauldron that he'd ever seen, with red embers burning underneath. Harry moved closer and saw a blueish liquid shimmering inside. The hundred-gallon copper cauldron was half-full.

As he looked at the enormous grave stone grave marked Tom Riddle near the cauldron, Harry saw the red jet of light from the corner of his eye and attempted to dodge what he recognized as a stunner. It was too late. Wormtail's aim had been true. It was 7:01 PM

… - …

Back at the tournament, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore noticed the blue portkey flash indicating that someone had reached the cup. Minerva, who was sitting by him asked, "Where's the winning Champion?" The winner's platform was empty.

Realizing that something was wrong, the old wizard removed a miniature goblet from one of his pockets and tapped it. In a flash, he disappeared and moments later, found himself standing next to Cedric Diggory who was looking confused. In an uncharacteristically harsh voice, Dumbledore demanded, "What happened?"

The seventeen year-old replied, "Harry grabbed the cup and disappeared. He's probably on the winner's stand."

Knowing that the stand was currently unoccupied, the 117 year-old wizard recognized that something was horribly wrong. Hoping against hope that Harry was somewhere nearby, Dumbledore waved his arm and began to bring down the massive garden maze that had been planted two months earlier in the Quidditch Stadium.

… - …

The thirty-two year-old wizard who resembled Master Auror Alastor Moody had also seen the portkey flash. Having seen Harry disappear, Barty Crouch Junior knew exactly what had just happened. With just ten minutes remaining on his current dose of polyjuice potion, Junior hobbled as fast as he could towards Hagrid's hut, near the ward-line where he could apparate back to his master. He didn't want to appear as the old Auror and accidentally be cursed by the other Death Eaters. He'd wait and appear as himself.

… - …

Dumbledore was frustrated beyond belief. It took over five minutes to remove the maze from the football-sized stadium only for him to find that the only remaining occupants were a handful of Hagrid's monsters and a rather bored looking sphinx. Harry Potter wasn't there.

Ignoring the rest of the crowd that had begun milling around, the old wizard walked purposefully to find Severus Snape. Dumbledore needed his help.

… - …

Harry awoke some five minutes after being stunned to find himself tied to a gravestone with heavy cords. He saw Pettigrew over by the cauldron adding fuel to the fire beneath it. Another bonfire had been started nearby. In the gathering darkness, Harry could see his wand on the ground some fifty feet away from him.

Pettigrew walked over to the headstone next to Harry. He could read the name on the marker. It read Thomas Riddle. Harry noticed that the traitor had wrapped his belt around the stump of his left forearm and that the hand was missing.

Pettigrew called, _"Accio Thomas Riddle Jr. bone fragments."_

Harry watched as a cloud of fine grey dust emerged from the ground and settled into a large cup that Pettigrew had set on the grass by his feet. Harry squirmed in a futile attempt to loosen the ropes that were binding him; holding him to the damp, moss-covered headstone.

"Bone of the Father – unknowingly given." Pettigrew dumped the cup of fragments into the cauldron as white sparks flew from the shimmering liquid flew into the air.

From an unseen spot on the other side of the cauldron, Harry could hear a high-pitched voice shout, "Hurry. Hurry."

Pettigrew picked up and dropped his severed hand into the pot and chanted, "Flesh of a servant – willingly given." Yellow sparks flew higher into the air. The bleeding man returned to the frightened teen and awkwardly withdrew a silver ritual knife from his pocket. Suddenly, clarity came to Harry Potter. He was going to be sacrificed for this Hellish ritual to somehow resurrect Voldemort.

"Hold out your arm, Potter."

"No."

"Hold it out, or I'll cut it off. It really doesn't matter to me anymore."

"I can't move it. The cords are too tight."

Pettigrew loosened the ropes then roughly grabbed Harry's arm. He knicked the inside skin by Harry's elbow. Moments later, a small flow of blood dribbled down Harry's arm and filled the groove in the knife. Pettigrew carefully walked over to the pot and poured the collected blood into the cauldron. Then he chanted, "Blood of the enemy – forcibly taken. Bone, flesh and blood shall be used to restore a true body to my Master. Combined with his spirit, he shall rise before me, and I shall serve him faithfully." A huge shower of red sparks filled the air.

Pettigrew awkwardly picked up the ugly little creature, which clung to his good arm. He used the stump of his other arm to support the creature, but ended up getting blood all over him. When it was suspended over the pot, it let go and with a splash, plopped into the sparkling liquid. Sparks of all colors flew into the air.

Minutes passed in silence. As blood continued to ooze down his arm, Harry kept muttering to himself, "Let it drown. Let it drown."

After five minutes, the sparks flew into the air at an ever-increasing rate until the remaining liquid in the cauldron suddenly flew high into the air and ignited with a Whoosh!

Harry had a fleeting thought of Neville and his exploding cauldrons and prayed that Pettigrew had somehow screwed up. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.

A hand emerged from the cauldron and gripped the edge. A moment later, another hand gripped the opposite side and a skeletally thin figure slowly emerged from the cauldron and stood. In the firelight, Harry could see that the creature was hairless and had snakelike facial features. The creature sniffed the air, turned his head to Pettigrew, took a breath and commanded, "Robe me."

Wormtail awkwardly lifted a robe over the creature and called, "Master."

Lord Voldemort had returned.

He carefully stepped out of the cauldron and called, "My wand, Wormtail."

The whimpering man handed Voldemort his wand, handle first, then knelt and kissed the hem of his master's robes.

"Hold out your arm, Wormtail. Your other arm." He jabbed his wand tip at the now fully defined Mark on Pettigrew's arm. As he touched the tip of his wand to Pettigrew's skin, the Mark immediately went completely black, like wet coal.

Pettigrew whimpered, and waited.

A few yards away, an exhausted and terrified teen muttered, "Oh shite."

It was 7:10.

… - ...

Hundreds of miles away, Igor Karkaroff felt the Mark on his arm burn. Like Lucius Malfoy, the Durmstrang Headmaster had anticipated that this moment would come, and had made his plans. Wordlessly, he walked up the gangway on the old, sail-less, three-mast ship. Two minutes later, he'd sealed the last hatch and the ancient ship disappeared beneath the waters – destination Perth.

… - …

Harry looked around for his wand. Pettigrew had dropped it on the ground near the cauldron, some fifty feet away. He was certain that if he made a dash for it, Wormtail or Riddle would cut him down mid-stride. He steeled himself and knew what he had to do. As quickly as he could, he quietly freed himself from the loosened ropes. It was time for plan-B.

… - …

Peter Crabbe and Grant Goyle hadn't received invitations from the Minister of Magic to attend the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Neither wealthy and well connected, nor highly skilled – the best days of their lives had been while they were in service to the Dark Lord. Goyle was eating chicken dinner with Crabbe when they felt the Mark burn.

As stupid smiles crept onto the men's faces, they walked outside and happily answered their master's call.

Like Draco, Marcus Flint had been watching the tournament and was quickly escorted out of Hogwarts by his father Donald.

Others in similar situations like the Carrows, Yaxley, the Notts, Conrad McLaggen, Bulstrode, Parkinson and others felt the miraculous calling from the one who they had feared to be long gone. They dropped whatever they were doing, grabbed or conjured their garb and took a moment to mentally prepare to answer their master's call.

… - …

Three weeks earlier, Harry had met with Sirius. They had discussed the third task at length. After listening to his Godson describe the visions that he'd been having Sirius reached into his knapsack and pulled out a Glock 17 pistol, a shoulder holster, a loaded spare magazine and an extra box of 9MM cartridges.

"Harry, if things turn to shite in this bloody tournament, I want you to use this." He spent an hour describing how the pistol operated. After that they took it out and practiced a bit. Having fired most of the box of ammunition, Harry was by no means an expert shot but he believed that he understood the basics. Sirius described a shooting technique developed many years back by two English police chiefs, Fairbain and Sykes, called the double-tap, whereby the shooter routinely fired twice to vastly improve the likelihood that the target went down and would stay down.

The Glock 17 was an easy pistol to shoot. Possessing a seventeen round magazine, it had the capacity to put down multiple targets before reloading. Having a spare magazine ensured that Harry would have a better opportunity to meet and beat any serious threat that he encountered and live another day.

Black's parting words were, "Harry, don't tell anyone about having this – no one. If you ever have to use it, finish the job and get rid of the pistol – bury it, toss the rig in a pond or whatever. Do the same thing with the empty brass cases. Don't leave any evidence or survivors behind. You'll be OK. The holster has a notice-me-not charm on it so no one will suspect that you have it."

… - …

Still holding Pettigrew's left wrist, Riddle declared, "While they unquestionably failed to search for me, my most loyal followers will soon be here. Additionally, many who I hadn't yet marked should be well positioned after twelve years working at the Ministry. They should begin arriving in another minute."

Looking on, Harry began taking deep, steading breaths.

… - ...

A hundred miles to the north out in the North Atlantic, a thin woman, dressed in a tattered black leather bustier, who may have been quite beautiful in years past, was awoken from her slumber. She saw the Mark on her arm go jet black, then burn in its calling.

She gave a wicked cackle of delight that sent a chill to her human guards who left the area as soon as they could and returned to the safety of the guardroom.

… - …

Lucius Malfoy, who, with his family, had been sitting near the Minister of Magic felt his arm burn as it had in years past. Grabbing his son's arm, they excused themselves and made their way to the end of the row where half dragging Draco along, they rapidly walked down the long stairway.

He noticed a handful of his old associates also making their way to the front gate. In his usual whining drawl, Draco asked, "Father, where are we going? The winner hadn't been announced yet."

Lucius snapped, "Silence! Our master has returned and I'm doing you the honor of bringing you to see him." In his hurry to get to the gates, Lucius failed to notice his son give an involuntary shudder. Draco began pulling out his wand before Lucius slapped him hard and hissed, "Never _ever_ have your wand out in our Master's presence. It would be the very last thing that you'd ever do."

Narcissa looked on as her husband and son went to answer the call. She had hoped that this day would never come. As she sat in the stands, she had a sad smile on her face.

… - ...

Harry took one last deep breath and acted. Silently he dropped the ropes that were binding his arms. He reached under his robes, felt the spare magazine, unsnapped the strap that held the Glock in place, got a firm two-handed grip and in the span of five seconds fired twice each at Riddle then at Pettigrew from a distance of 25 feet. As he fell on top of the smaller man, Riddle was still clutching Pettigrew's Dark Mark. He'd been hit once in the upper chest and once in the neck. Riddle's lungs were filling with fluid.

Realizing that he only had seconds to spare before Riddle's followers would arrive, Harry quickly freed himself from the ropes that had been binding his legs. He picked up the Glock again and waited to make a last stand.

… - …

Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore found Snape, who confirmed that the Mark had just gone black. "The Dark Lord is calling right now," declared the unpleasant potions master."

"You must answer his call. If he has Harry, you must find some way to keep him alive and free him, if possible. Go now."

… - …

Crabbe and Goyle were the first to appear. Lacking any situational awareness, they'd both been shot before they realized what had happened, or spotted their fallen master.

The Flints arrived moments later. As he took his last breath, Marcus realized that it was Harry Potter who had killed him.

Before it could strike, Harry saw the giant snake. With a considerable amount of luck, Harry hit the twelve-foot reptile. Writhing in pain, it immediately curled up on itself.

A moment later, Alecto and Amycus Carrow arrived along with Crouch Junior. Harry didn't know their names and in all honesty didn't want to. He fired four times. The brother and sister were dead, as was the long-presumed-dead imposter. Harry checked his magazine, realized that it was almost empty. He put it in his jeans pocket and replaced it with his spare.

As he finished, Stephen and Theodore Nott arrived. As they were facing the other way, they never saw their killer.

… - …

At Azkaban, Bella shrieked in pure agony. She let loose an enormous burst of accidental magic that cracked opened the all of the cell doors in the high security wing. Two nearby dementors swooped into her open cell and in seconds had ended the life of Riddle's most capable follower.

… - …

Yaxley arrived a moment before the two Malfoys. All three were down in seconds. Next, Mulciber, McLaggen, Selwyn and the Ministry Executioner Walden Macnair appeared within seconds of each other. They stumbled over Crabbe and Goyle as they arrived. They never got up. The pistol was empty.

Harry took out the spare magazine, which had one bullet remaining, added the six loose bullets that were in his pocket and put the magazine back in the pistol.

Bulstrode and Parkinson were next to arrive. Like the others, they'd stumbled on their now-deceased comrades and never got up.

… - …

At Azkaban, the dementors had just finished feasting on the Lestrange brothers and Rookwood before sliding into other cells. By the time that the human guards had reached the high security wing, there were no Death Eaters left on the Island. It was a feeding frenzy.

… - …

As Rookwood's soul was being consumed, Severus Snape appeared at the graveyard. Possessing a high degree of situational awareness, he immediately recognized that the scene that met his eyes was not what he expected. He spun around as Harry fired twice.

"Potter, no." Harry hadn't heard him over the shots fired from the pistol.

They were the last words that he ever said.

Nonplussed, Harry waited another minute. No one arrived. He walked back to Riddle and fired the last round into the nearly dead wizard. As the teen bent over to collect Riddle's wand he saw a black mist leech out of Riddle's shattered head. It reminded him of Quirrell in his first year but this one was smaller and didn't try to attack him.

… - …

At Hogwarts, Fudge demanded to know where the Potter boy had run off to. Dumbledore calmly replied, "I don't know, Cornelius but doubtless we will find out soon."

Fudge replied, "Find him, Dumbledore. Just find him."

… - …

Back at the graveyard, Harry retrieved his own wand then called "Accio wands." They flew to his feet. He snapped each one and tossed the pieces into the still-burning bonfire. They were quickly consumed by the flames.

Next Harry called, "Accio coins." He was pelted with loose galleons, sickles and knuts and picked up a few fairly hefty moneybags. He emptied them into his pockets and tossed the bags into the fire. He picked up the masks and tossed them into the bonfire as well.

As the adrenalin started leaving his body, Harry knew that it was time to leave this place, He picked up the brass cases, tossed them and the pistol rig as far as he could into the pond that was at the bottom of the hill. Taking a last look around, he touched the portkey and disappeared.

… - ...

In a blue/green flash, Harry appeared in the winner stand with a small pop. Still on his knees, the teen vomited everything that he'd ever eaten. Dumbledore and a handful of others ran over. He demanded, "Harry, what happened? Were you abducted?"

The only words out of Harry's mouth were, "I hate this effing tournament. Believe what you want. The portkey must have been wonky."

With ears ringing and his vision turning white, he muttered," I don't feel very good." He attempted to vomit again but there was nothing left. With Madam Pomfrey's assistance, he walked away to the hospital wing, leaving a thoroughly confused group behind him. A large black dog followed behind them. It was 7:25.

As Fudge quickly left, Dumbledore decided to wait outside a few minutes, in hope that Severus would return and have more information. He pondered the question. _If Tom's agent hadn't tampered with the portkey, who had?_

ooo-ccc-ooo

The inspiration for the beginning of his tale came to me almost fully-formed. I've had those flashes in the past but have never liked the idea of posting naked plot-bunnies. The poor things freeze in the winter. This one felt strong enough to run with.

My first challenge with this tale is developing enough connecting scenes that act as the ligaments, holding a story together. The point A's and D's are very clear in my mind. It's inventing all of the step Bs and Cs that smooth the way that make storytelling fun for me. They also tend to be the storykillers that bog most writers down causing most stories to become road-kill.

My second challenge is my ability to type. As I've mentioned to a few people who have asked, I am slowly but most assuredly losing anything resembling dexterity in my hands. Typing more than a long paragraph at a time becomes painful for me if I attempt to do anything other than two finger typing. Fortunately, by style, I seldom write long paragraphs. As such, I have decided to hold off posting any chapters until I finish at least the first draft of this tale.

It will be easier for me to tell this tale if I utilize a bit more narrative than dialogue. It could be argued that such decisions weaken storytelling. My only response is that I'm doing the best that I can.

My question is, was there any documentation or excellent fanon regarding spouses being Marked?

Crow – May 2019


	2. One Person Can Keep a Secret

Chapter Two - One person can keep a secret

After Poppy placed the screen in front of Harry's bed to allow him some privacy as he changed into his hospital gown, Sirius appeared and whispered, "Focus on what happened after you grabbed the cup."

Harry did and Sirius drew a thin black strand from the side of Harry's head. Sirius placed it into a vial and stoppered it up. Black whispered, "That will mostly remove the memory from your mind. You'll know what happened but the details will be fuzzy enough that Dumbledore or Snape won't be able to use Legilimency and steal your memory."

Harry nodded and handed his Godfather a wand, stating, "Don't let anyone see this. Pick me up a night after I get home from the Dursleys."

Sirius nodded and asked, "Do you need to give anything else to me?"

Harry shook his head no and hissed, "Go."

A minute later, he was in his hospital gown and Madam Pomfrey was coming back. Harry purposefully made a retching noise and the Healer waited outside of the curtains, unwittingly allowing the black dog to slip out of the hospital wing before leaving the castle unseen. Harry quickly drank the glass of water that was sitting on the nightstand. He refilled the glass and drank that down as Pomfrey announced that she was coming in.

She gave him a quick scan and noticed that his blood pressure was up and his heart was racing. She handed him a calming draft and asked, "Potter, how do you feel?"

Harry replied, "Still really scared from the tournament and nauseous. My leg was nicked by that big spider. My ears hurt. I think the portkey was broken. When I grabbed the cup I spun around."

She nodded as Harry drank some more water to clear the foul-tasting potion from his mouth. Just then Dumbledore walked behind the curtain uninvited and declared, "Poppy, it is imperative that I speak with Harry for a few minutes."

"Dumbledore, I'm not done."

He didn't hear her as the old wizard had flicked his wand and put up a silencing charm. He looked at Harry who almost had his eyes closed and declared, "Harry, tell me what happened."

Harry didn't have to coax himself too much. He threw up, intentionally splashing the old wizard's robes and shoes before muttering, "Crazy portkey. There was something wrong with the cup, like it was trying to get through the Hogwarts wards and I was spinning around for ages." Then he more-or-less pretended to pass out.

Frustrated, Dumbledore picked up Harry's wand, muttered a spell and looked at the last half-dozen spells that had been cast. There was nothing unusual. He placed the wand back on the nightstand and went back to his office to wait for Severus.

… - …

Early the next morning, Dumbledore found Harry in the Hospital Wing getting dressed. He asked the teen, "Harry, how are you feeling?"

Harry offered his stock response, "Fine Professor."

Dumbledore looked at the teen. He did look healthier and there was no sign of deceit in his eyes. He stated, "I'm sorry that you missed the leaving feast last night. Harry, you will need to return to your Uncle's home."

Almost too quickly, Harry replied, I know, Professor. I'll be there tonight."

"Good." He handed Harry a bag of coins and declared, Minister Fudge gave me this to give to you before he left. Congratulations on winning the tournament."

"Thank you, Professor."

With too much on his mind, the old wizard walked to the Great Hall for breakfast while Harry returned to his dorm to pack his things for the trip back and take a very long hot shower.

… - …

As the students were boarding the train, Tiki the elf came to Dumbledore, who was talking with Professor Flitwick and declared, "Professor, sir, two students did not bring their trunks to the train, sir."

Albus inquired, "Who are the students, Tiki?"

The little elf replied, "Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy, sir."

Flitwick replied, "I saw both boys leave with their parents yesterday just before the end of the tournament. I assumed that they'd cleared it with their head of house. Perhaps they assumed that their trunks would be put on the train."

Tiki, happily replied, "Tiki will be doing that now, professor. Thank you,"

After the little house elf bounced along, Flitwick asked, "Where is Severus this morning?" Answering his own question he suggested, "Perhaps he's out skulking someplace with Professor Moody. I didn't see him at breakfast either."

Nodding, Dumbledore agreed, "Perhaps Alastor is examining all of the student trunks as they're being loaded onto the train, or perhaps Amelia fire called him for something." He didn't want to advertise the fact that he'd sent Snape out on an errand.

Albus went back to his office, where he fire-called Remus, asking to speak with Sirius.

Sirius was on a minute later asking, "What do you need, Professor?"

A bit annoyed at the lack of civility, Dumbledore replied, "I'd like you to contact the old crowd to come to a meeting tomorrow evening. Also, I'd also like you to prepare #12 to be habitable soon. We'll hold meetings there and there are people that will need to stay there for the next few months. Molly will…"

Sirius cut him off, "Dumbledore, when _you_ have found a venue that you've actually been _invited_ to use, tell them yourself. I'm not running a messaging service, or a hotel and the Weasley clan is definitely not welcome to spend the summer as refugees in my mother's old home. Why don't you spend some time arranging a fair trial for me instead? Good day, Professor." He closed the connection.

Remus gave his friend a disapproving look and commented, "You were rather disrespectful to Professor Dumbledore. He's only trying to do what's best."

Sirius looked his old friend in the eye and replied, "Moony, Dumbledore has _never_ done anything that was best for me. I'm 99 percent certain that he knew that Wormy was the secret keeper. He never lifted a finger to get me a fair trial even though he's always had the authority to demand it. What kind of a human being does that make him? He's got schemes layered on schemes layered on schemes and pushes people around like pieces on some chess board like he's some general. We're not _his_ soldiers to order around as he sees fit. He'd all but lost the war last time, even though all of Britain was fighting against a hundred or so ruffians. Great general, my arse. The three biggest threats that we face today are Fudge, Umbridge and I-know-everything-but-tell-nothing Albus Dumbledore. People should be calling him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Blamed."

"But…"

"Moony, he's lorded letting you into Hogwarts over you for your entire life. You could have gone to any of a dozen schools in the States, just by applying. He hid Harry from you for ten years until it was "convenient" for you to do him a favor. Should that make him king of the world?"

"But…"

"Harry will get Lily and James' Will read this summer and the truth will be out for anyone to see. In the meanwhile, I'm not putting up with that harpy Molly Weasley telling me what to do and which way to hang bog rolls. Let's see how it plays out."

"OK."

… - …

It had now been twenty hours since he'd sent Severus out on a mission to find and rescue Harry Potter - a mission that in hindsight was unnecessary, as the boy had turned up unharmed, just a few minutes later. In some ways, the old professor compared himself to the RAF commander during the Battle of Britain in 1940 that he'd read about - pushing assets on a map where they needed to be to do the most good. Like that commander, or his German counterpart who directed the U-Boats, Dumbledore knew that sooner or later, he would send an asset out on a mission and they wouldn't return – Nor would he always know what had happened – only that they were missing, presumed dead.

Dumbledore pushed that thought from his mind as he considered what else needed to be done. He didn't enjoy second-guessing himself.

… - …

As the Hogwarts Express arrived in London, the students piled out, as usual. Hermione, Harry and Ron waved their last goodbyes. Harry waved to Cedric and the Hufflepuff girls in his year before he picked up his school bag containing his robes, shrunken trunk and a shrunken cage for Hedwig. Sirius had taught him how to shrink items so they only need a wand tap to re-enlarge.

He said goodbye to a few more of his year mates and walked through the gate, where he found Vernon and Petunia waiting for him. He followed them to the car.

The two trunks were still on the train when the last of the students had departed. Like every year, the Hogwarts elves collected the unclaimed trunks and placed them in The Room of Lost Things.

… - …

Sleep was not Harry's friend that night. _He was at the graveyard. He reached for his pistol before he remembered that Dumbledore had taken it away before the tournament began, saying, "A pistol…ew. Wizards don't use firearms, Harry. I'm very disappointed in you."_

_Riddle wasn't worried about Dumbledore's bias. He said, "Welcome Harry. I saw you looking at the cauldron earlier. I'll give you a better look." He levitated a naked, bound Harry into the pot full of steaming water, while Wormtail was tossing in onions, carrots and potatoes. The other Death Eaters were all there. Draco and Nott were laughing at his expense. Macnair was chopping vegetables with his ax._

_The water was scalding now. Just before he passed out, Riddle said, "We're having Harry Potter for dinner." The laughter was deafening._

A sweat-soaked Harry woke up with a start. What a horrible dream.

… - ...

Alastor's body was discovered that morning, apparently the victim of a heart attack. He'd been inside his worn trunk. Dozens of bottles of Polyjuice potion were discovered in one of the compartments of his trunk. However, there was nothing in the office that pointed to Barty Junior as the imposter.

Moody's magical eye and wooden leg wouldn't be found until late August when Hagrid would stumble across them during one of his daily walks through the forbidden forest.

… - …

It would be eight days before the bodies were discovered by the Greater Hangleton police. None of the bodies had any identification. By then, animals had been mutilating them for a week, so none were in any sort of recognizable condition that could be printed in any newspaper. Their clothing had been severely ripped by the animals. The hastily conjured Death Eater robes had disappeared. A combination of summer rains and unusually hot weather had rapidly deteriorated the bodies and washed away the blood. The Dark Marks had all vanished when the current iteration of Riddle died. The magical authorities were never notified as it had been determined that all of the victims had been shot.

The authorities assumed that it had been some sort of organized crime action based upon the apparent ages of the victims. The fact that most of the victims had been shot twice made it appear like some sort of revenge killing. As some of the victims had unusual hair styles, it was assumed that they had been foreigners who had entered the country illegally. Besides, the local police had reasoned that it was a bunch of bad guys who'd been taken off the streets. They had little motivation to pursue the case. The information simply never went anywhere.

Whoever had seen the bodies first had stolen the large copper kettle and sold it as a planter or scrap metal before making the anonymous call to the police.

… - …

Unlike the rest of the magical world, Gringotts was immediately aware of the deaths and how they stood to gain from them.

As the Hogwarts Express was steaming its way to London, Gringotts Director Ragnok met with his senior account managers. He stated, "The recent deaths of so many wizards and witches have presented us with a unique opportunity. It is my belief that the wizard's government will soon be in gridlock, allowing us an opportunity to improve our position when it resumes." The promise of profit was music to the account managers' ears.

"The minor houses of Carrow, Avery, Pettigrew, Rookwood, Prince, Jugson, Rowle, Mulciber and Travers have effectively died out, as have the voting houses of Crouch, Flint, Nott, Selwyn, Macnair, Yaxley, Lestrange and Malfoy. The minor houses of Crabbe, Goyle and McLaggen are currently without an adult to be designated head of house. The voting houses of Bulstrode and Parkinson are currently in the same situation."

Rockcrusher asked, "Director, what would you have us do? The ministry will surely be looking for their percentage of the dead houses. I'm surprised that they haven't already been at our doors demanding their gold."

Ragnok gave a toothy smile and replied, "That's the point. They surely know about those who were supposedly in their care at Azkaban but have not yet acted on anyone else. It is my belief that they may be unaware of the other deaths. They were all slaves to what remains of the Dark One. We will make it very difficult for that group to continue by not issuing death certificates. By their own laws, the Wizard Ministry can only do so themselves if they have the bodies. Effective immediately, we will freeze the personal vaults of the deceased and also the family vaults, if they were the head of their house."

The Senior Account Managers smiled at the delicious simplicity of the plan.

Grimreaper asked, "With so much dead gold sitting in the vaults, won't there be less profit for Gringotts?"

Ragnok admitted, "Initially, for some of the account managers, yes. The five highest value accounts are Black, Potter, Parkinson, Malfoy and Lestrange. The Lestrange account will fold back into the Black account. It is my belief that the Black and Potter accounts, which have been largely inactive for years will both become fully active this year."

Barchoke replied, "Director, the Potter boy will not be seventeen for two more years."

Ragnok nodded and remarked, "You are correct Senior Account Manager. However it is written in the Tri-Wizard tournament rules that one of the benefits of winning the tournament is automatically achieving adult status. It's possible that Dumbledore forgot that clause, or perhaps he simply neglected to mention it to Harry Potter."

The account managers smirked. They loved unintended consequences. None of them believed that Dumbledore ever blinked without intending to.

Ragnok continued, "It is my expectation that Harry Potter will come to Gringotts in the next few weeks. The tellers will be directed to look for him and send him to your office where you'll explain his change of status and encourage him to open his parents' Will. The contents will almost certainly cause him to find a way to finally get a trial for Sirius Black. A free Sirius Black will be in a position to claim the Black head of house title where he'll be able to correct some injustices, reclaim the Lestrange holdings and reinvest the Black family gold. The effective reactivation of our three largest accounts will create new opportunities for the account managers and their assistants. It is my expectation that when the due diligence has been completed, the Malfoy account will also fold into the Black account unless Narcissa Malfoy happens to be pregnant with a Malfoy child. Should she come in, she should be encouraged to leave the country."

Ragnok concluded, "The affected account managers will be offered different positions offering rewards of at least equal value. We will release death certificates for those in the minor houses late in the summer but hold off on the other houses until it suits our purposes."

Grog was served and everyone left happy.

… - ...

The next evening, Harry was sitting on the front step at Privet Drive when he saw a large black dog walk by. As Dumbledore hadn't yet gathered the Order together, no one was watching the house. Hoisting his still shrunken pack, Harry covered himself with the cloak and followed the dog. Two minutes later, they were standing in the back garden of an old London townhouse. Hedwig was out hunting and would join them in the morning.

They walked in and Harry immediately noticed the stuffy odor. Looking around he observed, "Sirius, this place needs some work."

Sirius agreed, saying, "No one has lived here for years. The house elf is ancient but the building has strong wards. Got any ideas?"

Harry replied, "I know an elf who can help. Should I call him?"

Black replied, "Sure."

Ten minutes later, the excitable elf had happily bonded to Harry as his personal elf and had agreed to work with Kreacher.

Sirius led Harry into the Black Library where they sat at two old but comfortable high-back chairs. He took out the crystal containing Harry's memory and Riddle's wand and set them on the table in front of them. He asked, "How would you like to do this? I can give you your memory back, look at it in the family pensive, or we can look at it together."

Harry replied, "Let's look at it together. Before we do, you'd better conjur a bucket – make that two buckets."

They both dove in the pensieve to watch. Sirius could see that Harry was injured before Pettigrew's spell even hit. He was scared for his godson when Harry's blood was stolen and utterly shocked when Voldemort stepped out of the cauldron. It was only his knowledge that Harry was in one piece, standing beside him, watching a memory that kept him from breaking down.

As the shots started, Sirius was a complete mix of ten second emotions – he wanted to wring Wormtail's neck, was utterly satisfied when Malfoy's shattered mask flew off, was astounded that Harry hadn't missed anyone and shocked when the snake rose up to strike. At the first reload, he was worried sick that Harry would run out of bullets. By the second reload he was glad that they'd stopped their practice when they had and he had an absolute respect for his godson.

Sirius noted that everyone except Snape had worn either a hood and mask or just a hood. With the exceptions of Snakeface, Pettigrew, Lucius and Snape he personally hadn't recognized anyone. He was glad that his Godson hadn't rolled the bodies over and stared at anyone's broken, bloody face.

When Harry fired at Snape, his initial reaction was _I knew he was a Death Eater._ Sirius was scared witless when he saw the black cloud leave Riddle.

If his respect for the teen was at 100 percent when the last shot had been fired, it was double that after Harry had the presence of mind to snap and toss the wands and masks while collecting the wizarding money. Sirius admitted to himself that he never would have thought to remove the obvious evidence that they were witches or wizards and quickly tossing the pistol, holster and empty cases away before returning to the school.

They stepped out of the memory together. With shaking hands, Black placed the memory back in the vial and stoppered it back up, setting it on the table next to what he now knew was Riddle's wand.

The first words out of his mouth were, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Then he said, "Dobby, bring four bottles of cold butterbeer please."

… - …

A different set of random thoughts passed through Harry's mind – Amazement that the little bullets could be so effective, shooting technique critique, a sense of remorse, a sense of accomplishment, gratitude that he'd had enough ammunition, a realization of the absolute luck that he hadn't been killed or blasted by a spell. Briefly a thought went through his mind that no one other than Riddle or Pettigrew initially had their wand in hand. He felt a sense of luck that he'd found all of the cases. He felt pleased that he'd thought to toss all of the obvious wizarding items into the fire, grabbed the coins and had been able to toss the holster, pistol and brass cases far into the algae covered pond. He was pretty sure that he'd recognized, Lucius and possibly Draco and maybe Nott. He wasn't sure. Finally he was convinced that his godfather would be disappointed in him, or hate him for what he'd done.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." The urge to retch passed in a few seconds and the black-haired teen hugged the older man for everything that he was worth. They talked for an hour, decided to keep Riddle's wand and the memory in the Black family vault and decided that Sirius would get them two more pistols with a handful of magazines each.

… - …

Monday July 3

Harry woke from another nightmare. In this one, all of the muggleborn witches and wizards had been dragged off to some sort of re-education camp for the supposed crime of having stolen something. None had made it out alive. He'd been having horrible dreams most evenings. They alternated between those that he'd left at the graveyard and the mayhem that Riddle and his thugs would have caused if he'd failed. He's seen the girls in his class repeatedly violated, children tortured and old men beheaded.

In the next room, Sirius had heard his godson muttering and moaning. It reminded him too much of his time at Azkaban. He didn't have a solution then and he… _yes he did_. He got up and found his old notebook.

… - …

At 9AM the regularly scheduled Wizengamot meeting was set to begin. Albus was about to start when Elder Garrick Ollivander pointed out, "Professor Dumbledore, we do not yet have the 33 voting members present needed for a quorum."

Dumbledore pushed his half-moon glasses to the bridge of his nose and looked around. While there were theoretically 50 seats in the Wizengamot, nine had been lost through time, such as the Hufflepuff seat, or because the family had died out and no agreement could be made as to who to appoint the seat to. The Potter seat was held vacant until the heir came to be of age and the Black seat was frozen until a new Lord Black could be named.

At the last meeting there had been 40 members present, which had been the usual number for the last handful of years. The seats held by Malfoy, Flint, Nott, Yaxley, Selwyn, Macnair, Bulstrode and Parkinson were unexpectedly vacant. Barty Crouch senior was known to have been recently killed and there was no known heir. The other missing members were simply presumed to be away for the day.

Fudge blustered, "There are 31 voting members present. With Dolores and myself here, that makes 33."

Augusta Longbottom countered, "Minister, yours is a voice-but-no-vote seat and Miss Umbridge is simply here in a reporting capacity, as is Percy Weasley. We are two short of a Quorum and under our own laws cannot conduct legislative business today."

Fudge attempted to interrupt, "But.." He made most of his gold by helping pass or block laws, as directed by various _benefactors_.

Longbottom plowed on as if she hadn't heard the rude man. "We can continue to collect taxes at the same rate and pay our bills. Effectively there is a hiring freeze and you cannot reallocate staff between departments. The only exception would be a position completely funded by an incremental external source which could be designated by the donor – effectively outside money. The court function is unaffected."

… - …

During the two hours that the Wizengamot was accomplishing nothing, Narcissa Malfoy was at Gringotts. As she had feared, the family vault had been locked down. She was fully aware of the unstated but most likely reason. She emptied the not insignificant balance that was held in her personal vault and presented a bag of quality jewelry to the account manager and declared, "I'd like to sell these today."

She knew that she would receive an offer equal to 60% of the actual value but she also knew that she would get the gold in minutes. She didn't want to become reacquainted with the Dark Lord or any of her husband's _associates_.

As previously directed, Sharp-eye, the jeweler finished his examination, took several medium-size bags from his pocket, filled another bag half full of galleons and slid the bags across the polished granite table. It was a slightly better offer than she normally would have received. Narcissa carefully shrunk the bags and placed them in her purse before zipping it shut. He said, "Good luck to you, Mrs. Malfoy. I don't expect that we will see you again. Perhaps one of the Gringotts branches in another country will be able to serve you in the near future."

She nodded respectfully and replied, "Perhaps you are correct. Thank you. You've been very helpful today. Thank you again."

As Ragnok had predicted, Narcissa Malfoy was never seen in Britain again. By the end of the year, she would be quietly established in a sea-side villa in Salerno Italy.

An hour later, Mrs. Nott had been to the bank and had done the same thing. She had friends in Argentina. She'd spent years being a plaything for her husband's perverted friends. She never returned to Britain. Mrs. Bulstrode, Mrs. Selwyn and others had already left.

… - …

Harry enjoyed his days at Grimmauld place with Sirius, Dobby and the odd house elf, Kreacher. They had properly cleaned the kitchen, two of the bedrooms and were making progress in the library. In the meanwhile, they blocked off the cellar and the third floor to avoid any unpleasant surprises creeping up on them.

Dumbledore may or may not have found out that he'd left Privet Drive several days earlier. Either way, he hadn't bothered Sirius since their last discussion.

Moony had stopped by and suggested that they ask Professor Dumbledore to apply the Fidelius charm on the house to better protect Harry.

Black snapped back at his friend, "The last time that fool applied the Fidelius for his so-called friends, Lily and James were killed and Frank and Alice were savaged. No thanks to that. It will be a cold day in hell before he steps foot in this house."

… - ….

By Friday, in spite of specific directive that the failure-to-meet quorum Wizengamot session was considered closed-door and not to be spoken of to the press, the _Daily Prophet _ran with a highly accurate version. The paper listed eighteen people who were considered missing. Narcissa and Snape were among those listed. Riddle, Pettigrew and Junior were not mentioned. Apparently 33 people could not keep a secret.

They also ran a story on Moody passing away from heart failure. The fact that he'd (apparently) been held captive in his own trunk and impersonated by an unknown person was not mentioned.

Finally, the story of the deaths at Azkaban caused by the Dementors appeared. Harry read the stories very carefully and came to the conclusion that while there may have been an additional several hundred thug-level morons who simply did what they were told, the so-called Dark Lord ran an organization of only about 50 main players. Even if another 50 had somehow been killed during the course of the "war" or simply vanished along the way, magical Britain had effectively been brought to its knees by a lunatic, 50 fanatical followers and a couple hundred thugs. Essentially they all were armed with the same weapon – a wooden wand, Harry was astounded at the utter imbalance of the numbers.

He did some quick math in his head and wondered how many more were lurking around. There could be spouses, people who were out of the country on holiday, some who ignored the call, or a few who couldn't disappear from what they had been doing at that moment. Riddle had never stated, "I wonder how many of the 46 will show up."

… - …

Meanwhile, Fudge had met with several people trying to find ways to increase the number of voting members to allow a quorum to be reached. As the missing wizards and witches had not yet been declared dead, Wills could not be read, identifying possible proxies or heirs. As Lucius had previously passed a block against having underage wizards name proxies (specifically with the Potter seat in mind) that avenue was now closed for the Malfoy, Nott, Flint, Parkinson and Bulstrode seats. Naming proxies such as spouses in Wills was a rarely used practice. Apparently Riddle's followers had all anticipated living long, comfortable lives. He'd effectively reached a dead-end. This was a problem. His Ministry salary didn't come close to meeting the expenses of keeping up his leased properties in Spain, Italy and Bermuda. He'd be broke in three months if the Wizengamot didn't start up again.

Umbridge had come up with a plan of eliminating the few Ministry muggleborns via bogus "performance reviews" and attempted to obtain authorization to do it until Fudge put a full stop to it. "You're being about as subtle as a horntail in heat, Dolores. In the first place, they're mostly stuck in dirty jobs that no one else wants. Besides that, there is a full-on hiring freeze. If they leave, we can't replace them. Do you really want to use dirty toilets?"

His comment seemed to especially draw the ire of the pink one. She left without saying a word.

… - …

Monday July 17

Had Severus been available, Dumbledore would have at least considered bringing him along for the day. As he wasn't, the point was moot. Had Harry been even a year older, the old wizard would have seriously considered bringing him – again, it was a moot point as until recently, he hadn't felt any urgency to go after the horcruxes.

Dumbledore had at least suspected that Tom had used the technique to keep some element of him attached to this mortal plane for the last dozen years – since he had first laid eyes on little Harry's scar and sensed the darkness. He'd visited the DoM in November 1981 and again after Harry had struck down the diary - the glass ball had not yet turned black to indicate that it had been fulfilled.

Quirrell's death in 1992 confirmed that Voldemort was not yet dead. Even then, the old wizard hadn't made an active search for Tom's horcruxes. Objectively, Dumbledore hadn't spent even an hour a month in either research or actual search. Having too many irons in the fire was a very effective deterrent against focusing on the all-important task. The urgent ones always seemed to have highest priority.

Harry's destruction of Tom's diary provided conclusive, tactile evidence that the former head boy had made multiple horcruxes. In fact, Harry had also identified a ready-made method of destroying the evil trapped within the objects.

Dumbledore's only achievement was to track down a few memories that might be useful in the future. In balance, his heavy-handed attempt to intimidate Horace gained him nothing except the almost certain knowledge that it was Slughorn who had unwittingly pointed Tom toward making multiple Horcruxes. The old potions master absolutely refused to provide so much as a hint as to how many splits that Tom may have attempted. Even fifty years after the fact, Slughorn still refused to acknowledge his role in Tom's rise to power.

As such, Dumbledore found himself alone as he carefully made his way towards the Gaunt shack. Casting supersensory charms, the old wizard detected that the shack was very heavily warded and cursed. From 75 feet, he began to sense the darkness within the wooden shack.

A touch of arrogance that no one else could possibly know as much about these cursed objects as him caused Dumbledore to continue ever-closer to the shack. The old wizard had a fleeting thought that young William Weasley may have heard of Horcruxes in his work in Egypt. While his idea was completely true and Bill had, in fact personally encountered and destroyed a horcrux, the thought passed in a blink of an eye. In fact, Harry and Bill were the only two wizards in Britain not employed at the Department of Mysteries to have successfully destroyed one. So while competent resources were available, Dumbledore slowly crept ahead alone.

An hour later, the old wizard was utterly mesmerized by the etching on the black stone of the ring that he'd just picked up. In direct violation of everything that he'd ever read about cursebreaking, he slipped the ring on his left hand finger. Riddle's curse trap was immediately evident.

With a level of focus that few men could muster, Dumbledore picked up the sword and in a single, agony-inducing swing, cleanly cut off his hand above the wrist. He never even considered the fact that he may have unintentionally poisoned himself.

In an absolute display of utter determination, the old wizard sheathed the sword, placed his severed blackening hand in his carry bag and called for Fawkes to take him to the hospital wing.

… - …

While Dumbledore was in the process of mortally injuring himself, Dobby was frantically pointing to a locket that was in a locked glass curio cabinet. Harry and Sirius were examining books nearby. Harry asked, "Dobby, what's wrong?"

Dobby pointed at the gold locket and replied, "This feels like bad old Master's black book that you destroyed."

Harry blew out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding and simply replied, "Fuck."

Riddle was still out there someplace.

… - …

Wednesday July 19

Harry and Sirius were having breakfast when Fawkes arrived with a message. Sirius commented, "If Fawkes had such an easy time finding you, why did Dumbledore leave you stuck in the graveyard?"

Harry replied, "Dunno. Maybe he'd just had a burning day." Fawkes nodded in agreement and dropped the note that he'd been carrying.

_Harry,_

_If at all possible, please come see me early this morning. It is urgent that we talk today._

_Albus_

"What do you think?" asked the teen.

"I wouldn't tell him about the graveyard – ever," replied Sirius. He added, "Grab the basilisk fang if you have a chance. Maybe bring your broom, a sturdy bag and a pair of gloves."

Harry did and two minutes later was standing in Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster looked sickly, weak, frail and about 1,000 years old. He was also missing his left hand.

Trying to ease the tension, Harry quipped, "That's a pretty severe way of getting rid of Riddle's Dark Mark, Professor."

For a moment, Dumbledore was shocked at Harry's words. Then he did something that he feared that he'd never do again. He gave out a great laugh and replied, "Thank you Harry. You've made my day."

Harry made to say something, but the old Headmaster had no more time for small talk. He began, "We have much to talk about, Harry and precious little time."

Harry nodded

Dumbledore started, "Rather than skipping around, I'll try and take the topics in order." He handed Harry an ordinary stenographer notebook and a Bic pen. "Please use this to write any notes or questions. We'll stop along the way and I'll happily answer your questions then."

Harry nodded and Dumbledore continued with his obviously rehearsed lecture. "The spring before you were born, I was interviewing for a Divination Professor position…

Harry wrote _Drunk bitch April 1980_

"… For neither can live while the other survives…"

It took all of Harry's meager supply of self-control not to attack Dumbledore where he was sitting. Harry wrote, _How did Riddle find out?_

"… That fall, your parents went into hiding. I cast the Fidelius harm to protect them…"

Harry wrote _How is a secret keeper designated? Could anyone have cast the charm?_

"…I placed you with your Aunt and Uncle..."

Harry wrote _Under what authority?_

…"My suspicion was confirmed that Tom had made horcruxes…"

Harry wrote _Plural. What was the first horcrux that he'd seen?_

"… Severus confirmed that his Mark had gone black and that he'd been summoned…"

Harry was going to write _Too bad for him_ but thought better of it.

He was lost in thought for a minute when he heard, "… And here is Tom's ring."

He wrote, _Cursed ring kills Dumbledore_

Harry looked at the ring the Dumbledore was holding out for him. Dumbledore said, "Please take it. The curse on the ring has been removed and I expect that you may find the stone useful in the future."

Since the lecture appeared to be over Harry asked, "How did you destroy the Horcrux, Professor?"

Dumbledore replied, "With the goblin made sword that you yourself used just over two years ago." He took the longsword out of the glass display case and said, "Please take this." He took a wooden carving off of his shelf and transfigured it into a very serviceable scabbard, then placed the Gryffindor sword into it and handed it to Harry. "Be careful. It's very sharp and had been imbued with basilisk venom." Harry didn't need to be reminded.

Dumbledore also handed Harry his wand after conjuring a box for it and said, "Please keep this; like the stone, you may find a use for it sometime in the future." Harry accepted the wand without comment and Albus said, "You've been very patient with your questions and I expect that more than a few of them will be uncomfortable to ask but ask away."

Harry looked through his list and asked, "Professor, how many horcruxes do _you_ think Riddle might have made and do you have any idea what they may be?"

Dumbledore considered the question for a moment and decided on full-disclosure. He said, "I believe that he originally thought three anchors to be a good number, then decided on six plus one but unintentionally, unknowingly made seven plus one. The one is the fragment that remains inside him. As to what they are, I know of this ring, the diary, a gold locket that originally belonged to Salazar Slytherin and a small golden cup that originally belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. I'm guessing that he also used something belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw. There are drawings of each in this envelope. I suspect that he placed a fragment of his soul in his snake familiar – a large black cobra, probably about eight feet long. As you find them, my advice is to visit the prophecy in row 97 in the Hall of Prophecies. Amelia Bones could easily take you there."

"And the other?"

"Harry, the last piece may or may not be a true horcrux, as I do not believe that he had time to perform the necessary ritual. There is a fragment of Tom Riddle that resides in you. I believe that it is embedded within your scar."

"Professor, I expect that you've had that theory for twelve and a half years. If you believed that, why didn't you remove it years ago, or at least have someone else look at it?"

Dumbledore seemed to age another five years in front of Harry and admitted, "I should have. I'm sorry that I didn't."

Not seeing any value in arguing what was essentially a moot point, Harry asked, "Who told the prophecy to Riddle?"

Dumbledore simply replied, "I am unable to tell you because of an oath. I can say that you have had this person as a professor. Please don't ask more about this."

Harry let that one go for a moment and asked, "How was the secret keeper designated when you cast the Fidelius Charm at my parents' cottage?"

Dumbledore admitted, "It was designated at the end of the charm by pointing the wand to the secret keeper as the final wand stroke."

Harry fumed and took a few calming breaths, counting to ten before he asked, "So you knew that Sirius wasn't the secret keeper and spread the rumor that "everyone knows" that Black was the secret keeper?"

Dumbledore nodded and muttered, "I had good reasons. Sirius not being guilty of assisting in the murder of your parents does not mean that he is an innocent man." In truth, Sirius' habit of saying no to Dumbledore's demands and reusing to follow directions had also played a large part in his decisions.

Completely changing the subject, Harry asked, "Professor, why did you give me your wand?"

"My advice would be to carefully read the book _Tales of Beedle the Bard_ and never mention that you have my wand to anyone."

"Two more questions, Professor, Why didn't Sirius receive a trial?"

"I don't have a good answer. At first, it was out of convenience, and then I unintentionally put it out of my mind. Sirius did not act like an innocent man in your third year. And your final question?"

Harry debated asking or not and realized that whether he'd like the answer or not, he'd never get another chance. He doubted that he'd ever see the old professor alive again.

Dumbledore nodded in encouragement and Harry asked, "Professor, from what I've read, Riddle was within days of taking over in October 1981. Knowing that Riddle knew at least part of the prophecy and knowing that he had at least one spy in the Order, did you intentionally set my parents up to die when you cast the Fidelius charm on their home?"

The old man admitted, "Not intentionally but I admit to having had my doubts about Mr. Pettigrew's loyalty." Left unsaid was the reality that he'd had no other ideas at the time and was about ready to negotiate a surrender with Tom.

Harry was ready to go into a full-on rant, then recalled watching one of the TV judges say, '_Never ask a question that you don't want to know the answer to_.' Harry knew that the old man's answers would be hard to hear but like the details of the prophecy, he could have guessed at most. Completely justified or not, taking 20 lives changes a person.

He finished his butterbeer and said, "Thank you for your honesty, Professor. This wasn't an easy conversation for either of us but I think we're both better off for having had it."

Dumbledore replied, "It has been a pleasure and an honor to know you, Harry. Is there anything else that I can do for you?"

"No Professor. I know what needs to be done." With a serious lump in his throat, Harry added, "I'll miss you. Goodbye."

Both men nodded at each other and Harry gently closed the door behind him. Ten minutes later he had the basilisk fang in his bag and had called Fawkes to bring him home.

Albus Dumbledore passed away that afternoon. For the first time in years, he'd had a clean conscience.

… - …

Harry continued having dreams that centered on three topics, guilt, righteous anger for having been placed in the situation to begin with and anger directed at Dumbledore for having insisted on such a wimpy and ineffective response during the last war.

Harry talked with Sirius about it, but talking to another man who had serious anger issues of his own simply wasn't that helpful.

Harry needed someone else.

… - …

Monday July 24

Harry and Remus attended Professor Dumbledore's funeral together. They sat by Susan Bones and her aunt. Fudge and Minerva both spoke. Harry listened to both for style. Fudge was a skilled orator but his message was diminished by too many insincere platitudes.

McGonagall was certainly sincere but apparently she honestly believed that the old(er) professor farted rainbows and could never do wrong. Harry knew better but he didn't feel like grinding his ax at the expense of the old man's memory. Twenty lives will do that to a person.

He smiled politely as Susan made small talk while Amelia gave her niece a slightly annoyed look.

The service ended and Susan said, "I hope we see each other again this summer."

Harry smiled at her and nodded. She had pretty blue eyes.

ooo ccc ooo

There are some interesting twists in this chapter. The snake is dead but Harry couldn't tell if it was a horcrux. He'd been too busy fighting for his life to watch it die. Harry had previously seen Riddle fade from Quirrell and had noticed that "the black cloud" was smaller this time.

I'd always thought that Dumbledore had made a giant leap of assumption regarding Nagini. (Severus apparently mentioned that the dark lord has a pet snake that he talks to… therefor it must be a horcrux?… Every dog owner on the planet talks to their dog)

I intentionally sent the students home a day or two early. It made Snape and crew's disappearance easier to pass off.

Prior to the botched attempt with the ring, Dumbledore has had nearly 13 years to search for horcruxes and essentially hasn't _accomplished _a thing.

Likewise, according to Steve Vander Ark's masterpiece, The Lexicon the Riddle family murders took place in July of 1942. Steve speculates that they were used to make the first Horcrux (ring) which was visible in the memory when Tom was asking Slughorn about the value of multiple horcruxes (42-43 school year 50-years prior to COS) I'd always assumed that the diary had been made first.

The point of my rant over those two is that the two characters have had 13 and 51 years respectively to do or say something about Riddle's horcruxes (including the one in Harry) and collectively only managed to find a memory from Bob Ogden and a little elf. How much respect should be given to either of those two men?

I was originally intending to write the Harry-Dumbledore scene ending in a giant rant from the teenager as was written in Book 5. It certainly would have been justified. Perhaps this Harry was stunned into silence from DD's honesty. I considered having Sirius accompany Harry but thought that Dumbledore would have been much less candid. There are a lot of different ways that it could have played out. I like this version.

Perhaps my own anger at the character has tempered in the years since book seven was published.

Last but not least, please keep in mind that this Harry never hit Fudge's radar. There was no _He's back_ statement blurted out to cause a serious disruption to Fudge's world. Everyone seems to have accepted Harry's _I was stuck in a Portkey ride_ explanation, just as people would accept, _I was temporarily stuck in an elevator_.

My questions are; 1) Why would Fudge keep such an unpleasant person as Dolores around?

2) With no obvious scapegoat, who would Fudge turn his frustration towards over losing (most of) his income?

Cheers

Crow – May 2019


	3. Ragnok

Chapter Three - Ragnok

Tuesday July 25

Harry, accompanied by a large black dog arrived at Gringotts well before the usual Diagon Alley shopping crowd would arrive and coincided with the normal Auror shift change. No witch or wizard saw them walk up the polished white marble steps, nod at the guards and step through the doors. Once inside, Sirius changed back into his human form and they purposefully walked to the nearest teller, who politely said, "Good morning, Mr. Black and Mr. Potter. You both are welcome here and are expected. Let me accompany you to a meeting room and your account managers will be with you shortly."

Sirius commented, "We're off to a good start."

The teller arrived back in less than five minutes and stated, "Mr. Black, your Senior Account Manager, Rockcrusher will be with you shortly. Mr. Potter, your Senior Account manager Barchoke…"

"Is here. I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Potter. Thank you, Teller Greentooth."

Harry replied, "I'm pleased to meet you, Barchoke."

The goblin, dressed in a three-piece black wool suit said, "Thank you, Mr. Potter. We have much to discuss, but you must have come in for some purpose. How can Gringotts help you this morning?"

Harry glanced at Sirius, who nodded. Harry said, "Sir, I'd like to get my scar examined and if possible, removed please."

Barchoke looked at it for a half minute, nodded and said, "Just Barchoke, Mr. Potter. Goblins only have one name. In formal setting one would call a Goblin by their title, if known and their name."

Harry held out his hand and said, "My name is Harry, Barchoke. I'm very happy to get to know you better." Barchoke grasped Harry's hand, gave it a small shake and nodded. He opened the door and said something to the messenger. He closed the door.

"The healer will be here in a few minutes. Until then, Harry, as the Winner of the Tri-Wizard tournament, you have legally been declared an adult in the magical world. As such, you are eligible to ask that your parents' Will be read. Normally it would have been read shortly after your parents' deaths but the Will was ordered sealed…"

As Barchoke spoke the words, Harry mouthed, "_By Albus Dumbledore_. He admitted that to me a few hours before he died. He never mentioned the being declared an adult part."

Barchoke liked this young wizard. He observed, "It's possible that he never carefully read the tournament rules. They are quite lengthy and the clause is but a single sentence among pages of boilerplate contract language."

Harry replied, "I'd like to have it read as soon as possible."

Barchoke took an envelope out of the folder that he'd brought along, handed it to Harry and stated. "This is a certified copy for you. There are four items of interest within the Will, Harry. One is that you were never to be placed with your Aunt and Uncle. Your parent's choices in order were Sirius Black, Alice Longbottom and Amelia Bones."

Harry nodded and Barchoke continued. "Second was the notation, initialed by both your parents that Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper." Harry smiled at that part. It was a ticket to freedom for Sirius.

"Third, you are the majority recipient of your parents' gold and property. There were small bequeaths mentioned for Remus Lupin and Minerva McGonagall."

"Last, but not least, the Will was witnessed by '_Albus Dumbledore._'" They had both spoken the name together.

Barchoke concluded, "The Will is now considered read, and the bequeaths will be made today. That said, I recommend that you accept your head of house ring when you get back from your visit with the healer."

Just then the messenger knocked, opened the door and allowed the healer to enter. She reminded Harry of a female version of Yoda, though the teen would never even breathe such an idea aloud. Barchoke said, "Mr. Potter, allow me to introduce you to Senior Healer Windwalker."

Windwalker motioned Harry to come closer. She gave his scar a critical look for almost two minutes then took out a small razor-sharp blade. She gave it a little flick and the entirety of his scar was intact in a small white ceramic plate. She gave the knife another flick and an ounce of a putrid black blood-pus mixture was on a small white ceramic bowl. She took some essence of dittany, poured some onto a clean cloth and dabbed it on his forehead. Within seconds, Harry felt better than he ever had!

Windwalker was about to place the dishes back in her bag when Harry said, "Hold on a minute." She was slightly annoyed at the young wizard's apparent lack of respect until he reached into his bag, put on a glove and took out a foot-long basilisk fang. Harry carefully stabbed the scar tissue, which gave a small scream and a very small cloud of black smoke dissipated.

"This is wonderful news," spoke a voice that Harry had not recognized. "Was that a fragment of the Dark One, Tom Riddle?"

Harry nodded and replied, "Yes sir. My name is Harry Potter." He held set the fang down, took off his glove and held out his hand.

The old, tall goblin smiled and replied. "Harry Potter, my name is Ragnok. I'm happy to meet you and am very pleased to have just witnessed your action. If I may say, that is a very interesting tooth. I have never seen a basilisk fang that size."

Harry replied, "I have many of these, Ragnok. If you'd like, I'd be happy to give you one. I'll collect the rest after school starts."

Ragnok gave a great laugh, smiled a goblin version of a smile and replied, "It's an honor to know you, Harry. I hope to have many more visits with you again in the future. Please continue your business with Barchoke. Thank you again, Windwalker. You performed a great service to the Nation this morning."

As she was leaving, Harry said, "Thank you, Windwalker." She nodded and she and Ragnok left, with the messenger closing the door behind them.

A minute later Harry was the head of the Potter family. He asked, "Barchoke, when you referred to rights and responsibilities, what exactly did you mean?"

Barchoke replied, "That is a good question, Harry. In the future, you would do well to ask those questions before making agreements. Your new rights, are the control of the Potter trust vault, the authority to make contracts such as betrothal agreements for family members and offer or rescind dowry or allowance agreements for family members. You are eligible to take the family seat at the Wizengamot or assign a proxy who would act on your behalf. Your responsibilities are to safeguard and oversee the growth of the family itself and protect and increase the family fortune. Finally it is your responsibility to guide future generations of clan Potter, select your heir and teach them how to act as head of house as Lord Black and I will do for you. How else may Gringotts serve you, Lord Potter?"

Harry took out the folder that Dumbledore had made for him and replied, "I need help finding these two things."

"Excuse me for a minute Harry." He walked over to Rockcrusher. They conversed for a few seconds.

… - …

While Harry was meeting with Barchoke, Sirius was doing the same with his account manager, Rockcrusher. Except for the Will reading, the conversation had been similar.

After Barchoke and Rockcrusher had conversed, Rockcrusher said," Due to the recent deaths of the Lestrange family, Lord Black is now the owner of their estate, including their vaults. I recommend that you go visit them as you may find part of what you are searching for."

Harry asked, "Is it OK if I call my elf?"

Barchoke nodded, Harry called and a few seconds later, the messenger had let Dobby into the door. Barchoke smiled as the excitable elf hugged Harry in greeting. Harry explained, "Dobby has some first-hand experience with Horcruxes."

Barchoke looked on as Dobby stood a bit taller at Harry's words, noting the plural was intentionally used.

They took two carts down to the vault. Rockcrusher opened it and said, "Lord Black, your guests may accompany you into the vault. I'd recommend examining any item before you touch it."

Dobby immediately felt the darkness. Within seconds, he pointed to the object and said, "You shouldn't be touching bad cup. Use the bag that you bring with you." Harry opened his pack, took out the extra leather bag and held it open. Dobby looked at the cup, flicked his finger and floated the cup onto the bag. He concentrated for a half minute, then snapped his fingers, saying, "Bad cup is safer now, Harry Potter."

Harry asked, "Is it still a horcrux?"

Dobby replied, "A part of the Dark One is still within the cup Harry Potter but it's being safe to touch the cup now."

Rockcrusher closed the door and they took the carts back up to the main level.

… - …

While they waited for the messenger to advise Director Ragnok of the find, Sirius asked about the procedure of re-adding the Tonks family and the impact of disowning Narcissa.

"If I might, Mr. Black, your actions are admirable but the timing and order could be better. It is very possible that there are end-of-family clauses in the original Black betrothal contract that would mention end-of-line and the reintegration of much of the Malfoy estate. The tax savings could be substantial and you and your Godson might be presented with an interesting real-estate opportunity. Please give us a month to allow things to sort out advantageously."

Sirius didn't look convinced, so Rockchucker added, "Consider what would have happened if Bellatrix Lestrange had been removed from the Black family before their recent untimely deaths. The estate would have largely gone to the Ministry, unchallenged. Instead of getting 35 percent of the gross estate, you ended up with 70 percent and a piece of the Dark One. Timing and order of events is important."

Sirius replied, "I'm new to this and would be better seeking your advice than issuing directions. We'll follow your plan." That was a hard sentence for the brash man to utter.

… - …

Harry and Barchoke walked to the ritual room. Ragnok, Rockcrusher, Sirius and Dobby were waiting. They watched with grim satisfaction as Harry scratched the Hufflepuff cup. A minute later, the screaming had stopped. Another Horcrux had been destroyed. Grog, firewhiskey, butterbeer and lemonade for Dobby had been served.

… - …

Harry returned to the bank the next morning. He was in the teller line when Barchoke found him and said, "Good morning, Harry. Director Ragnok will see you now."

The messenger opened the door to the Director's office and they were let in. There was a black stone table off to the side. After the greetings, Harry said, "I brought the memory from the graveyard." He showed the crystal vial to Ragnok. He accepted it, took out a small knife similar to what Windwalker had used, drew the memory out of the crystal and placed in back into Harry's mind. Ragnok explained, "We use a slightly different format, like the different video player formats that the nonmagical humans use."

Harry nodded in understanding. Ragnok said, "Please think of the evening again."

Harry did and a few seconds a stone pyramid had formed on the black table. Harry prefaced the memory, stating, "Someone had tampered with the cup that I grabbed at the end of the tournament." They watched in silence.

At the end, Ragnok declared, "No one could have done better or asked for more, Harry. Your godfather equipped you for such an eventuality, though in the future, you may choose to carry an additional magazine. An archer never wants to run out of arrows."

Expecting that Harry carried a heavy burden over the abduction, Ragnok asked, "Harry have you been taught the difference between opponents and enemies?"

Harry shook his head and replied, "No."

Ragnok explained "Frequently there is a bad history among enemies. Because of this history, an enemy may wake up thinking about ways to kill you. Lucius Malfoy was such an enemy. He'd tried to kill you and your friends on several occasions. He had a law passed specifically to thwart you."

Harry nodded and was following every word.

"I expect that most of the Dark One's followers dreamed about having the opportunity to find you and kill you when you were young. Dumbledore didn't follow your parents' wishes but he wasn't wrong in recognizing that you needed protection for those years."

Harry nodded in acceptance.

"It may well become necessary to kill an opponent – circumstance may dictate it on a temporary basis. Two examples that come to mind for you are the basilisk or Draco Malfoy. I believe that the difference is that you didn't wake up that morning thinking to yourself, that you should kill Draco Malfoy before breakfast. Do you understand?"

Harry did and replied, "Yes Director. Thank you. Your explanation makes living with having had to kill Draco and Theodore Nott a lot easier. None of the three of us wanted to be there but it happened."

"Exactly," remarked Ragnok. "The Dark One's followers were for the most part waiting for the day when he would return and they could return to cause mayhem, torture and murder. Most likely, those two were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like millions of young men and women before them, they were caught up in the fortunes of war."

They had a beverage together as they collected their thoughts.

Ragnok observed, "Harry, you have as much direct experience with horcruxes as any living wizard. Why do you think the dark one mutilated himself and made them?"

Harry replied, "He must have been obsessively afraid of death."

Ragnok, nodded and replied, "We believe that the first Horcrux was made by one of the Egyptian pharaohs some 3,000 years ago. Have you ever met a 3,000 year old Egyptian?"

Harry thought for a moment and said, "No. I've never read about one either."

Ragnok replied, "You haven't because they simply don't exist. A single horcrux may protect a young wizard from dying for a few years but after the span of his natural life has passed, his life force would have been expended and he would be dead anyway. Young Tom Riddle did incomplete research, most likely because there is so little documentation about Horcruxes and the extension of life available to wizards. The only magical beings that I know of who have significantly extended their lives are the Flamels and if you count them, the vampires."

Ragnok saw that Harry was an able student and continued, "The last topic for the day is the soul. In your mind's eye, is that a finite or an infinite?"

Harry immediately replied, "Finite. Otherwise Riddle could have split off a thousand slices and never been affected. The last time I saw him it he looked like his mother had mated with a cobra."

It was a good thing that Ragnok wasn't taking a sip of water when Harry answered. Otherwise, he would have sprayed the room with laughter. He replied, "Thank you Harry, you made my day. I do have one request."

Harry replied, "Say it. If I can do it, I will."

Ragnok replied, "You would always do better to hear a request before agreeing to it. In this case, no one is trying to take advantage of you. My request is, should you find the last piece of the Dark One and should it be safe to move it, would you be willing to bring it here to be destroyed?"

Harry smiled at the man who he was rapidly considering a good friend and replied, "If and if then yes. I'd be happy to."

Ragnok replied, "Thank you, Harry. Until we see each other again, I hope you find profit and happiness." They shook hands together.

"You too, Ragnok. Thanks for spending time with me."

Both men felt like they had benefited from the conversation.

… - …

After leaving Gringotts, Harry had planned to meet Sirius just on the other side of the Leaky Cauldron at noon. As it was only ten, Harry decided to stop at Fortescue's, where he was delighted to see Hermione, with her parents, Susan Bones and a woman who Harry guessed to be her Aunt Amelia.

Harry greeted and was greeted by everyone. Hermione stood behind him as he waited in line to order his cone. She asked, "How have you been Harry? Have you heard from Ron? Are you staying with the Dursleys? Are they treating you OK? What do you suppose will happen without professor Dumbledore?" His best friend finally stopped to catch a breath.

Harry smiled and said, "Hermione, it's nice to see you too. Which one question would you like me to answer?"

None of them apparently as she gave him a slightly annoyed look and asked, "Where were you this morning? You didn't come up from the Leakey Cauldron side of the road."

Harry replied, "I was meeting with my bankers at Gringotts."

She was going to ask some more questions but thought about his answer for a moment. Harry nodded at her. She asked, "Is everything OK?" He nodded again and ordered his ice cream as he was now at the front of the line. He asked, "Would anyone like anything else?"

She looked back and replied, "No, I think everyone's fine."

They walked back and Harry sat between Emma Granger and Amelia.

Emma congratulated Harry on winning the school contest. He smiled back and replied, "Thank you."

Turning towards Amelia, Harry gave her a meaningful look and asked, "Could you give this a quick look please."

She got up and walked to a vacant table in the corner for a moment and read the Potter Will. She immediately caught her name listing as a guardian. She read it through and caught the notation regarding Secret Keepers and finally noticed the signatures at the bottom. She put the document back in the envelope, walked back to the table where he casually asked, "Can you help him?"

She nodded, asked if she could make a copy and seeing his nod made one and carefully placed it in her bag before handing him back his copy.

Lightening the conversation considerably, she asked, "Harry, do you have plans for your birthday?"

He replied, "No. How did you know my birthday was coming up?"

Amelia smiled indulgently when Susan replied, "Harry, everyone in the wizarding world knows when your birthday is."

Amelia saved him further embarrassment by saying, "If you'd like, I'd be happy to arrange a small birthday party for you. If you want, please send me an owl with a list of a dozen or so guest names. I'd be happy to arrange it."

Harry replied, "That would be brilliant. Thank you."

The Bones women left shortly afterwards and they rearranged themselves at the table. Hermione and her mum had gone to use the toilet. Harry asked Dan, "What classes did you take in collage (high school)?"

Dan hadn't expected that line of questioning but replied, "Algebra, trigonometry and geometry for math and biology, chemistry and physics for science. Then there was English literature, world history and the like. Why the interest?"

Harry replied, "I'm interested in taking my a-levels. I've discovered that I have an interest in medicine and healing."

Dan innocently asked, "Did you recently get a broken bone healed or something?"

"Something. A goblin healer found a way to remove a sliver of a bad guy's soul that had somehow latched onto me when he tried to kill me when I was toddler."

The only words that Dan could find were "Sweet Jesus!"

Harry replied, "The last part hasn't been announced. I'd like to keep it that way. Back to the courses?"

Dan suggested, "The easiest starting point would be to buy the science and math books from where you left off and see how fast you could catch up. I think you still have another year to take your a-levels. You've got a birthday party to arrange. I'll do a bit of checking for you and talk with you there. OK?"

"Brilliant. Thanks."

… - …

After they got back to Grimmauld Place, Sirius asked, "How did it go?"

Harry replied, "Perfect. Ragnok and I discussed horcruxes, enemies vs. opponents and souls. I met the Bones women and the Grangers at Fortescue's. I gave Amelia a copy of the Will and asked her if she could possibly arrange a trial for you. She offered to have a birthday party for me. Then I asked Dan Granger about learning science and math to take a-levels. How about you?"

Sirius replied, "Nothing anywhere near that interesting. I went to Harrods for a few minutes to look around. The muggles have been busy since James and I were at Hogwarts. I saw video players and phones that you can walk around with – very cool stuff. That opponent/enemy thing must be a standard lesson in Goblin education. I remember Barchoke giving your dad and me that lesson when we were still in school. Too bad Dumbledore had never taken any of it to heart. He tied the Aurors to using stunners and pretty much single-handedly lost the first war for us with his stupid policies – they got a lot of good people killed. He wanted to give everyone 500 chances. He probably would have given snake-face detention if he'd ever caught him."

Harry chuckled and observed, "I suppose its moot now."

"_But it isn't_. If those bastards at the graveyard had somehow gotten captured, half of them would have gotten off by now. Buying your way into what you want or out of trouble is an accepted practice in this country. That's not an easy problem to solve."

… - …

Monday July 31

While they were waiting for the others to arrive for Harry's birthday party Amelia asked, "Are you excited about class this year?"

Harry thought about her question and considered his answer before replying, "No, not really."

She gave him a surprised look and asked, "What do you mean?"

He replied, "Honestly, most of the classes are worthless. Divination is an absolute waste of time. I was a fool to sign up for it. Now that I'm done fighting dragons, care of magical creatures doesn't have a lot of practical application for me. History of magic is an absolute joke. Even Hermione finally admitted that the muggle studies class is a complete waste of time. Astronomy could be ok except for the absolute crap equipment. Potions should be interesting but with Snape teaching, I learned more reading two supplemental books than anything that he ever chose to teach us in four years. Last but not least, defense is worse than worthless. That leaves charms, herbology and transfiguration for the really good classes. Professor Dumbledore may have been a powerful wizard but objectively, he was a crap headmaster. I think he was involved in way too many jobs. I can't believe that it was even allowed."

Shelving the Dumbledore comment for a minute, Bones replied, "OK, let's take one example. Tell me about Defense."

Harry thought for a moment, decided not to comment on the previous instructors and said, "Personally, I've adopted what I call the 75 philosophy. Most people don't need to learn 75 non-lethal methods of protecting themselves; - they need to become proficient at one or two methods that will work 75 percent of the time. They don't need to know 75 lethal curses either – they need to be competent with one or two methods to put a guy down that would work 75 percent of the time. What they really need to learn over seven years is the mindset that they possess the ability and the right to protect themselves from the bad guys. Being physically fit would help too."

Fascinated at his utterly simple declaration, she asked, "What about the other 25 percent?"

"Dodge, get away and learn situational awareness to avoid the problem to begin with. That's enough."

She asked, "What about the other side of the equation?"

Harry looked her in the eye and declared, "The non-magical world figured that out 200 years ago – shoot them."

Stunned at his straightforward response, she ineloquently replied, "Huh?"

Harry stated, "Seriously, Madam Bones, we were given the gift of being able to do magic. That's a very cool thing. Yet we're a bit like a carpenter who only has one tool – a hammer. We're so in love with our little tool that we insist on seeing each and every problem as needing a nail. Most of the magical world will ignore any nonmagical solution simply out of principle. We've let it define us and generally speaking, choose to ignore the other 99.99 percent of the world."

"You have given me much to think about today, Mr. Potter, including the training that we give to our own Aurors. I truly thank you."

"Just Harry, Ma'am."

"My friends call me Amelia, Harry. I'd be very happy to include you in that small circle. Have a happy birthday. Please spend time with your other friends."

"Thanks, Amelia."

… - …

Harry went to get something to drink. On the way, Susan saw him, and whispered, "Come with me."

He did and ten minutes later had a goofy smile on his face. He stammered "Thanks. I don't know what to say…"

She whispered, "Don't say anything. It's just a blow job Harry, not a marriage proposal. I wanted to give you something that you'd always remember for your birthday. There are no strings."

"I, uh… Thank you."

She smiled at him and suggested, "Maybe we can do this again sometime if you'd like."

"I'd like that. I mean…Thank you again."

She kissed him on the cheek and said, "Happy Birthday, Harry. Let's go get something to drink." It was a birthday that he never forgot.

… - …

Hermione saw Harry talking to Neville. She walked over to the two of them and said, "My dad asked me to give you this. She handed him a fairly thick envelope.

Harry smiled and replied, "Please thank him from me." He didn't offer any explanation as to what he was given and Hermione let it drop. She'd begun to realize that she didn't need to know everything _every time_. It was a realization that made her a better person.

… - …

Monday August 7

The trial of Sirius Black was ridiculously one-sided – there simply was no evidence against him. Elder Tiberius Ogden led the proceeding.

"Senior Inspector Hammer, please unseal the evidence bag from the original investigation."

Connie did. "There is Sirius' wand, a single page incident report signed by Barty Crouch and a Temporary Azkaban Imprisonment order with the scheduled release date line left blank that had been signed by Barty Crouch and Albus Dumbledore.. This form is not valid for imprisonment longer than a year and a day." She concluded, stating, "There is no file evidence that Mr. Black was ever specifically charged, or received a trial, or was actually found guilty of anything."

There was quite a bit of grumbling within the chamber. It was blatantly obvious that a series of huge mistakes had been made. Strangely, the two calmest people in the chamber were Sirius and Harry. They knew what had happened and Harry was prepared to offer up his memory of the conversation with Dumbledore if it came to that.

Garrick Ollivander was called as a witness to confirm that the wand was, in fact, Black's. The old wandmaker stated, "I recall making this one, nine and a half inches with a unicorn foal tail hair. I sold it to Sirius black when he was eleven." Someone sniggered.

Ogden requested, "Elder Ollivander, please identify the last six spells cast by this wand."

Ollivander did and replied, "Two cleaning spells, most likely for a baby, a shaving spell, and three point-me spells – usually used to find a person."

That was it. There was no evidence that Sirius had cast war-level spells that would have obliterated Peter and killed another dozen bystanders.

Ron and Hermione were each called. They both testified that they'd seen Pettigrew alive and that he'd confessed to pointing Voldemort to the Potters' home.

Finally Harry presented a copy of his parents' Will. Ogden asked if there was any mention of their Secret Keeper. Harry replied, "It states "We want it known that Peter Pettigrew is our Secret Keeper."

Ogden asked, "Mr. Potter, who signed and witnessed your parent's Will?"

Harry replied, "It was signed by Lily and James Potter, witnessed by Albus Dumbledore and Barchoke from Gringotts."

Ogden asked, "Mr. Potter, when was the Will dated?"

Harry replied, "October 25th 1981, about a week before we were all attacked."

Black was unconditionally freed two minutes later. Outside the courtroom, a reporter asked, "Mr. Black, how do you feel?"

Sirius replied, "Relieved. It feels like a very bad chapter of my life has passed. Part of me wants to blame someone but Crouch and Dumbledore are both dead and no one has seen Pettigrew for over a year. I'm going to move on with my life and do what I can to take care of my Godson, Harry."

There was some grumbling within the crowd that Sirius should have been awarded a massive compensation but that would be a legislative action and there still was no quorum.

… - …

Harry saw Susan a few more times in August. He made a clumsy, teenage boy attempt to return the favor. Susan appreciated his efforts. They weren't in love, rather good friends with benefits. From the years that she'd spent living with her aunt, Susan recognized that he carried many secrets and made no effort to pry. Neither made any demands on the other and both were very happy.

Hermione had been vacationing in America with her parents for the remainder of August after the trial had ended. Harry missed spending time with her and Ron over the summer. Ron was helping the twins in their new shop. They'd left school and with the 5,000 galleons that Harry had given (lent in their minds) them, secured premises and opened Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes two weeks ago.

Sirius had procured two more Glocks. They cast Fidelius charms on them, each using themselves as the secret keeper. With a day of practice, both found it to be an easy enough charm to cast; at least on small objects or areas. Covering a home or an estate would be a major undertaking. Neither man expected to use the pistols but both felt safer carrying them.

The booklists arrived late and soon it was time to return to Hogwarts.

… - …

Harry read that Skeeter eventually ran some derogatory pieces in the _Daily Prophet_, claiming that Dumbledore and Couch had collaborated to keep Sirius away from Harry, adding that Harry's placement with Lily's sister went against the stated directives of their Will and was only possible by Dumbledore and Crouch conspiring to do just that. In reality, Dumbledore may well have made such a deal. He almost certainly was long-aware that Junior was a marked Death Eater – They probably did a bit of horse-trading and they both got what they wanted, at least until Junior was caught at the Longbottom home.

While the allegations were sensational and true, telling the world didn't change anything. Harry's only hope was that some future "hero" wouldn't end up with three positions of power.

… - …

Thursday September 1

Harry, Hermione, Susan, Hannah, Neville and Ron shared a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Hermione asked, "Who do you think will take over as Head at school?"

Harry replied, "Dunno but I hope whoever it is takes the job seriously and makes some improvements."

Neville muttered, "My Gran is taking the job on an interim basis." He didn't look happy about it. Ron sympathized with him. He wouldn't want his mother at the school either.

As the thestrals pulled the carriages towards the castle, Harry was glad that there weren't scores of students who could now see the skeletally thin winged horses.

They walked in and sat down. After the sorting, Ron asked, "Where are all the Slytherins?"

Harry and Hermione looked around and Ron was right. Pansey, Mildred, Draco, Theodore, Vince, Greg and Bole were gone. Harry knew about Nott and Malfoy. Where were the others?

Ron attempted to answer his own question. "They probably all transferred to Durmstrang."

Hermione replied, "Maybe but why?" She paused for a moment and added, "Look at the staff table."

Neville muttered, "Gran."

Ron asked, ""Who are the others?"

Just then, Minerva stood and announced, "It is my great pleasure to Introduce Interim Headmistress Augusta Longbottom." She sat down while Augusta stood. "Welcome students, new and returning. It is the board of Governors' wish that every student attending Hogwarts has a safe and positive learning experience this year. The board recognizes that in recent years that wasn't always the case." The trio gave each other knowing looks.

She took a sip of water and continued, "There are a number of course and staff changes this year. First, Divination as a regular elective has been cancelled. A tutor will be made available on a regular basis if any student actually believes that they have the Sight. Should that be the case, please contact your head of house."

That appeared to be a popular decision. No one enjoyed tripping over someone else's empty sherry bottles. "Second, Muggle Studies had been canceled. In its place a new course, World History has been added. For now, it is an open elective that will be presented to anyone regardless of your year." The applause was louder this time. Muggle studies had been widely perceived to be another worthless class.

"There are also some staff changes that we hope you find helpful." Now she had everyone's' undivided attention.

"Teaching potions will be Healer Erika Smith. She has enjoyed teaching teenagers for several years and has just completed Mastery work in potions."

Harry looked up. Smith gave a little wave. She was still youngish, had clean hair and was smiling – three positives in his book.

Longbottom continued, "Teaching the actual history of magic this year will be the head of the wizarding examinations board, Professor Griselda Marchbanks. She has promised that there will be many topics presented other than goblin rebellions." The applause was practically thunderous and came from all five tables.

After the applause died down, she continued. "Finally, teaching a more practical approach to self-defense is the DMLE's Lead Investigator, Connie Hammer." Harry applauded heartily but he was one of the very few to do so. For years, the DADA instructors had earned a well-deserved bad reputation.

As they walked up to their dormitories, Harry recalled his earlier conversation with Amelia. He smiled to himself.

… - …

In the common room Hermione suddenly noticed, "Harry, where's your scar?"

ooo ccc ooo

Obviously this Amelia had listened to Harry. I'm trying to avoid having this tale turn into yet another giant poke at Dumbledore but the quality of the product that he was responsible wasn't quirky, it was crap – 50 percent of the classes weren't very good.

One of the things that I like about this Harry is that he is in a position to look ahead and ask himself, _'what would I like to do with my life?_' It's too bad that She didn't illustrate wizarding life more – work for the government, take care of monsters, uncurse monsters, sell clothing, or teach school. What do the other 39,000 magicals in Britain do? Her 19 years later chapter could have been much more illuminating.

This Harry utterly stopped a war in fifteen minutes. The rest of the story will see where he takes it and if he can learn to live with himself. This Harry has a lot of secrets. It will be interesting to see who and under what circumstances is told.

Since there is no High Inquisitor in this tale, I intentionally booted the twins out of school a year early and had Harry give them the gold that he'd acquired that night. He has no interest in blood money.

I've enjoyed writing Ragnok. He started with three pieces of information (dead DEs, a clause in the TWT contract and knowledge of the contents of a Will) and envisioned likely outcomes. I thought that his enemies-opponents speech was apt.

This is a different Wizengamot than the one that Harry faced in Book Five. Fudge doesn't feel threatened by Harry. The six darkest voices aren't there, nor is Dumbledore.

Where were the willing teens when I was that age?

Again, I apologize that the chapters aren't as long as I might have liked.

Cheers.

O-C June 2019

… - …


	4. Connie Hammer

Chapter Four - Career Planning

Monday September 4

"Good Morning, class. My name is Senior Investigator Connie Hammer. If you're interested in learning how to protect yourself, I can help you."

Ernie Macmillan asked, "Professor, what happened to Professor Moody?"

Connie, who like Moody, was about 75 years old (though she had all of her body parts) replied, "Mr. Macmillan, "I'm not a professor like your Professor Sprout. I do not hold a mastery in Defense against the Dark Arts as did your Remus Lupin. Senior Investigator is a standardized law enforcement rank that I've earned and kept in some 50 years of work. Like Master Auror Moody, which is a Ministry of Magic designation, it represents an earned achievement. As such, please call me Ms. Hammer or Investigator as you prefer. Agreed?"

The class all nodded.

"Briefly, with respect to Master Auror Moody, we believe he was abducted just prior to the school year a year ago and held captive by the wizard who was impersonating him throughout the school year. The physical evidence indicated that half of his hair had been sheared off at the beginning of last year. Since then, it grew about two inches. Most likely the disturbance at his residence that was handled by Arthur Weasley was the point of his abduction. The most probable motivation was the corruption of the Tri-Wizard tournament. To what end, is highly speculative. As such, you probably never had the pleasure of meeting the man. Did that answer your question, Mr. Macmillan?"

"Yes, Senior Investigator."

She handed them a four page document that had been created on a word processor or computer then photocopied. It listed some 300 spells in two columns per page. Next to the spell were three check boxes (I know this spell, I'm proficient at casting this spell and this spell would be useful in a dual or fight). On the last page were two essay questions (What would be your best defense against multiple opponents? And if that option was not available, what would you do?) She said, "Please take the next 15 minutes to fill this out. It will give me an idea of achievement levels and help me offer you the best class that I can."

Hermione checked nearly every box then wrote as small as she could to fit detailed answers to both questions.

Harry indicated that he was proficient at about 2/3 of the spells but only checked off a handful or two as being useful.

For his first essay question he simply wrote, _Put them down_. For his second question he wrote, _Find a way to get away or better still, find a way to have avoided the situation to begin with_.

Hammer collected the papers and glanced through them. Only Susie, Hermione and Harry indicated that they had even heard of more than a fourth of the spells. Hermione claimed to be proficient in almost every one.

She asked, "Susan, you indicated that Lumos Maxima could be a useful defense spell. Please cast it and explain your reasoning."

Susan did and a fairly bright light emitted from her wand. Susan said, "It could be used at night to allow you to see how many bad guys were out there."

Harry thought, _'It could also get you killed or worse, since those same bad guys would know where you were._'

Connie caught Harry's slight frown and replied, "Very good. Five points to Hufflepuff." Then she said, "Miss Granger, you indicated that you were proficient with most of the spells. Please cast the Patronus charm." Hermione did and a nearly fully-formed otter popped out. "Very good, Miss Granger. Take five points for Gryffindor."

She debated for a moment before saying, "Mr. Potter, your survey indicated that most of the listed spells were less then useful in defense. Please elaborate."

Harry replied, "The incantation for the killing curse, Aveda Kedavra that we were taught last year takes about two seconds to say. I've never personally seen anyone cast it either wandlessly or wordlessly. That said, attempting to use a defensive incantation that takes longer than that to incant doesn't make sense. In a fight you have to rely on muscle memory, short spells that you have mastered, situational awareness and the agility to dodge out of the way of something bad coming towards you."

She nodded at him and replied, "Thank you, Mr. Potter. I hope everyone was listening to his answer and wrote it down. Simply spoken, I couldn't have said it better. Class dismissed."

At the students filed out the door, Hermione asked Hammer, "Investigator, you didn't give Harry any points for his answer."

Hammer replied, "Miss Granger, He doesn't need any. He's already mastered defense. Please don't pester him."

"But…"

"Miss Granger, can Potter cast a Patronus?"

She blustered, "Yes, in third year he held off about 100 dementors with one."

"My point exactly. I couldn't do that today by myself. I'm certain that Mr. Potter could breeze through his NEWT exam this afternoon if he chose to do so. I'm equally certain that he's here for a different reason than most of the other students. Again, please don't pester him."

"But I'm sure that I checked off as many spells as Harry."

"It was a survey, not an examination, Miss Granger. You probably checked off more but he's thought through how and when to use each one in various defensive situations. It's time for lunch, Miss Granger."

… - …

While Hermione was testing Connie Hammer's patience, Harry dashed up to the hospital wing. He walked in and Pomfrey asked, "What do you need, Mr. Potter?"

"If you have the time, I'd like to talk with you," replied Harry.

Delighted to spend some time with one of the more interesting people that she'd met, (who wasn't bleeding at the time) she agreed and they sat. A moment later, Dobby appeared and brought them their respective favorite beverages and a plate of sliced ham sandwiches and crisps. Harry thanked Dobby and his little friend had vanished in a blink.

"What's on your mind, Mr. Potter?"

"I was hoping you could tell me how you got into healing and how your decision came about."

A faraway smile came to her face. She had been asked this question a dozen times over the years and each student who had asked had gone into some facet of healing or medicine.

"My husband was a submariner in World War 2. He'd been in the service a few years before Dunkirk in 1940. I was training to be a healer at the original St. Mungo's. One afternoon, I received a telegram that his boat had been lost near Gibraltar. Soon after, the bombing began. One day, St. Mungo's was there, the next morning there was nothing left. We moved here on a temporary basis and I never left."

She watched him as she talked. He wasn't shocked or had attempted to offer meaningless words of sympathy. She could see that he'd followed every word. She continued, "To actually answer your question, in 1938, I began training because I wanted to help people. The medical profession on the nonmagical side was still pretty crude in comparison. We helped put the soldiers' limbs back together when we were able and threw a few stitches on for a diversion. Magical medicine is very good at healing injuries but knows next to nothing about making people whole again. Does that make sense?"

Harry nodded, catching the spoken as well as her unspoken words.

She continued, "Over the course of the war, we helped thousands as we were able. Too often, our repairing the tears in their bodies led to them being sent back to fight and getting killed a few weeks later. I suppose that's a reality of a protracted war."

They ate in comfortable silence for a minute and she continued, "After the war ended, I had the opportunity to stay here. Taking care of children and teenage issues has been much more to my liking than attempting to reattach pieces or repair chest wounds on young men and women who have been blown up."

She was going to ask him why he was asking when he asked the last question that she ever expected.

"Madam Pomfrey, did professor Dumbledore bring me in on Halloween 1981 for you to look at?"

The memory came flooding back as if it were yesterday. _That bastard_. She replied. "Yes, for a few minutes. You had cuts and bruises on your little arms and legs in addition to… It's gone. How did you do that?"

He reached over and gave her a hug, saying, "It's a great story for next time. Would you mind if I come back the same time next week?"

With a tear in her eye, she nodded and replied, "Please. I'd like that very much and thank you for lunch."

… - …

Katie Bell decided to do a full-team tryout. The Creevey boys tried out for beater. The others weren't as good but she was proving a good captain by giving everyone a real chance. Fred and George who (aided by the 5,000 galleons that Harry had given them) had left school to pursue their dream and had stopped by to watch, looked on with real approval.

Harry had noticed a big difference in Cormac McLaggen. The Malfoy-esque swagger had completely disappeared, most likely tempered by the financial reality that their family vault as well as his father's vaults had been frozen for the last three months. Cormac had admitted that his father had been a Death Eater and most likely had somehow been called.

Harry asked, "What are you going to do after you finish school this year?"

"Try out for a position with the Tutshill Tornados. My Mum's brother-in-law is one of the owners. That aught to be enough to get me a position." A tinge of the swager that he'd displayed in previous years had resurfaced."

Harry added, "Or at least a try-out. Is it common to give people a look who've never played organized quidditch before?"

Cormac admitted, "No. The only position I'm likely to get is ticket seller."

Harry asked, "What positions are you trying out for today?"

He replied, "Keeper and Seeker. I hope you don't mind."

Harry replied, "Not a bit. Ron's been working pretty hard at going for keeper. It's his dream to play for the Cannons. Why don't you try for seeker?"

"But, that's your…"

"I'll make you a deal. Promise to do a good job and permanently lose the arse-attitude and I won't try out. I've got other things that I can do. Deal?"

"Agreed." They shook on it. Harry walked over to Katie, whispered some words for a minute and she nodded.

… - …

Potions class with Erika Smith was as different from Snape's class as it could be. It was much more like what Harry had imagined high school chemistry class would have been.

After talking roll, the perky professor began. "Good morning class. My name is Erika Smith. I'll be helping you learn about safe potionmaking." Like Hammer, she had each student complete a self-evaluation form listing about 200 potions. The check boxes were, I've heard of it, I've tried making it. I feel proficient at making it.

Harry only declared that he was proficient at making a dozen potions or so. Neville didn't think he was proficient at any of them. Ericka smiled to herself when she read Hermione's, who had admitted making Polyjuice. Like Hermione, Susan declared that she was proficient in making some 60 potions and had at least tried nearly twice that number.

She collected the evaluations, gave them a glance and placed them in two stacks. She said, "When I was doing my student teaching in South Detroit – Toronto, I saw about the same results, though with an overall higher proficiency level. Potion-making is largely about planned practice and at a higher level, structured experimentation."

Ernie had immediately raised his hand, "Professor Smith, Snape never let us practice and quite a few of us live in non-magical homes and haven't the opportunity to practice in the summer."

Harry was about to agree. The Dursleys had always locked his trunk away during the summer. Then he remembered that he was living with Sirius and could practice as much as he wanted. He was sure that the old townhouse had a potions lab in the basement.

Smith replied, "In most cases, anyone can make a potion on a gas stove. That said, if you should blow up your cauldron, you could expect to get a notice from the improper use of magic group, if you happen to live in a non-magical home. As I said, proficiency in potions requires structured practice and careful experimentation."

Hermione asked, "Professor Smith, please explain what you mean by structured experimentation."

She replied, "Consider the lowly sopophorous bean. If you cut it and squeeze it a bit you will usually get eleven drops of juice. If you slice it lengthways and use the side of your silver potions knife to flatten it you may get as many as twelve drops of a higher quality juice which will often yield a more potent result."

Hermione persisted, "Professor, which is right?"

With a level of patience that Snape would have never shown, Ericka replied, "Miss Granger, please explain the term Equivalency."

Hermione replied, "In chemistry, it is the state of having chemical valence."

"Try a more generic definition."

"Two nonidentical items that will achieve the same result, or are interchangeable." After Erika gave her a nod of encouragement Hermione added, "In other words it can apply to different ingredients that could normally be substituted for each other."

"Excellent. Mr. Thomas, why might you want to substitute one item for another?"

Dean replied, "Two reasons that I can easily think of are one item might cost a lot more than another, or you might be out of one item and have a different one available."

"Why else?"

Susan added, "One item might produce a longer shelf life in a potion than another. Using Dean's example, if you were making something that needed a long shelf life because you only use a little bit at a time, you might want to substitute a more expensive ingredient, if it doubled the shelf life. However, if you were making a blood replenishing potion for use today, having a long shelf-life wouldn't be a valuable attribute."

Harry added, "Both blood replenishing portions would work the same this week but in two years, the one might just be mush."

"Ericka beamed, "Exactly. Mr. Potter, which version should Healer Pomfrey stock in her hospital wing?"

"In my personal experience, blood replenishing potion has to be kept on hand, rather than made to order, because if needed, the need is normally immediate and the potion takes about 20 minutes to brew. If the inexpensive version cost three galleons to make and would last a month and the expensive version cost five but it would last two years, I'd recommend that she order the expensive version. She doesn't know when there will be a bad quidditch accident or some fool hurts someone experimenting with severing charms. It could happen this afternoon, or might not happen this year, due to small sample size. In contrast, St. Mungo's probably uses some every week."

Ericka replied, "Excellent reasoning. Actually, they probably use a dozen doses every other day."

The students were all happy and completely engaged in the lesson. She continued, "If you're serious about learning how to safely brew a variety of useful potions, I'd recommend that you buy these excellent reference books." She pointed to a stack of books that included, Potions Basics, Harvesting Potion Ingrediants, Household Potions, Basics of Medicinal Potions. Magical Drafts and Potions, Most Potente Potions, Advanced Potion-Making and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

Like most of the other students, Neville wrote down the list. Ron commented, "Professor, Most Potente Potions is in the restricted section."

Smith replied, "I expect that it is, but you're not twelve anymore, are you, Mr. Weasley?"

"No Ma'am."

"Mr. Weasley, I believe that you helped your brothers in their wonderful shop over the summer. Did you ever hear your brothers discuss recipes?"

"All the time. They were forever going on about how to make stuff safer, cheaper and faster."

She replied, "Less expensive, Mr. Weasley, not cheaper. Their shop features some of the most inventive non-medicinal examples of potion making that I've seen. You should be proud to be working with them."

If possible, Ron went even redder than normal at her praise. He'd never received words like that from any Hogwarts professor.

She'd found some way to include each student during the class discussion. It was the best potions lesson that any of them had ever had.

When the class had been dismissed, Harry went to look at the reference books that she'd mentioned. As he thumbed through them he noticed that she'd written relevant notes in the margins on almost every different page. She noticed him looking and observed, "They aren't library books, Mr. Potter. The margins are the easiest place to make notes. You can always use a sheet of printer paper and leave the sheet in the book, or use pencil if you're still experimenting."

Harry replied, "That's what I did with my defense books."

She asked, "Good. What are your career plans Mr. Potter? Will you join the ministry as some sort of dark-wizard catcher after you finish here?"

"No, Healer Smith. To be honest, I've had enough of dark wizards to last three lifetimes. Honestly, I'm interested in going into some type of medicine to help people. I'll order those books today."

"That's the start of a worthy plan, Mr. Potter. We should talk more about this another time. Your next class will start soon. Have a good week."

"Thank you, Healer."

…- …

That afternoon, Harry asked McGonagall if he could use her floo on Saturday morning to go to Diagon Alley.

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend, Mr. Potter. You would need your parent's er, guardian's permission to leave school and go to Diagon Alley."

"Actually not, Professor." He showed her his head of house ring.

"But how?"

"I won the tournament and in accordance with the rules, was declared an adult. May I use your floo tomorrow Professor?"

"Of course, Mr. Potter. What time do you expect to leave and return tomorrow?"

"I'd like to leave at 9AM and return before dinner."

"That will work well, Mr. Potter. I'll be in my office."

"I'll arrive on time. Thank you, Professor."

"Will this be a regular occurrence, Mr. Potter?"

"I expect so, Professor. I have recurring business at Gringotts."

"Thank you for explaining your situation, Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded and walked back to his dormitory.

On Saturday at five minutes before nine, Harry knocked gently on Professor McGonagall's office door. He was carrying what appeared to be a three foot long hard-sided leather case similar to a case for a musical instrument. "Good morning, Mr. Potter. If I may ask, what is in the case?"

"This," replied Harry as he carefully opened the case. "Don't touch it as it's quite poisonous."

She didn't need to be told twice. "My Lord, Mr. Potter. Where on earth?"

"Chamber of secrets. It was a 60 foot basilisk that was roaming around, directed by a version of Tom Riddle. Didn't Professor Dumbledore ever actually tell everyone what happened?"

Her heart racing, she replied, "Apparently not, Mr. Potter. Thank you for telling me." She would be having a dram at lunchtime, if she made it that long.

Five minutes later, Harry was walking up the polished white marble steps of Gringotts. Barchoke was waiting for him and said, "Good morning, Harry. This way please."

"Thank you, Barchoke." They walked in comfortable silence down the hallway towards Ragnok's office.

The messenger opened the door. Harry and Barchoke entered and sat down when invited. Ragnok asked, "What brings you here today, Harry?"

With a devilish smile on his face, Harry handed the case to Ragnok and announced, "I have something for you. Please don't touch the item inside without protective gloves."

Ragnok accepted the case and carefully opened it. He'd seen many weapons over the years and some very unusual trophies but this was … astonishing. He said, "Harry, this is…The little broken one would have been a great gift. This is…"

"Pretty cool. They were really hard to get out though."

"Pretty cool indeed, young warrior. Would it be possible for Barchoke and me to see the memory of the beast?"

Harry had already made a memory pyramid. He handed it to Barchoke, who placed it on the black table.

Ragnok thought a twelve year-old wizard having to battle such a basilisk was an astonishing feat, as would be having to battle a version of the Dark One. Having to battle both of them at the same time, all in a quest to save a young witch was among the bravest acts that he'd ever witnessed or read about. To have personally seen the bona fides just magnified the importance of the act.

Harry remarked, "The venom has been very effective on the horcruxes to far."

Ragnok observed, "You are an incredible wizard, Harry. We are honored to call you a great friend. Actually, I have a question. When you were done defeating the Dark One and his followers that night, why did you throw your weapon away? In a similar situation, most goblin warriors would have made a display case and hung it on a wall for generations."

"Sirius told me to throw it away if I ever used it. They can easily be traced in the nonmagical world. I knew that I was going back to the Hogwarts hospital wing and didn't want Dumbledore to find it." He also explained that there were many within the Ministry who would be happy to see him return and would be quite willing to vent their disappointment on him. "Besides that, they're inexpensive and easy to replace."

Ragnok didn't agree with all of Harry's reasoning, but he respected good decision-making that had to be made instantly. He asked, "What else is on your mind?"

Harry replied, "When Senior Healer Windwalker examined me, she used a technique to evaluate my scar that is not known among Wizards. I am wondering if she would explain what she had done and how to do it?"

Barchoke and Ragnok looked at each other in silent conversation for half a minute before Ragnok replied, "You are referring to a technique used among the Nation referred to as Aura Reading. It is not something that can be learned in an afternoon. Harry, you are essentially asking if Senior Healer Windwalker would take you on in some sort of modified apprentice relationship. I will not attempt to influence her decision either way. She's earned her position. I'll ask her to speak to you when we're done. The rest is up to you."

"Thank you both."

Ten minutes later, Harry walked out of Gringotts. Senior Healer Windwalker was willing to work with him but currently had a full complement of apprentices. She had agreed to spend one day a week with him, in September through December. They both were looking forward to the time that they'd spend together.

… - …

Thursday September 28

It was an astonished clerk from the Goblin Liaison Office who accepted the Death Certificate documents for Avery, both Carrows, Crabbe, Goyle, McLaggen, Mulciber, Peter Pettigrew and Snape. The date of death on the documents was uncharacteristicly vague, June 1995. She dropped the documents into the In-Basket in the Financial Services office.

… - …

A few minutes later, the head of financial services was visited by Dolores, who had a proposition. Since the estate taxation was irregular, unbudgeted and essentially found money, she proposed a skim of one percent for the head of financial services, two percent to her and seven percent to Minister Fudge's re-election fund. In return, she would guarantee that while Fudge remained Minister, Financial Services wouldn't be audited.

Seeing as the head of the department had only gotten his job by correctly answering the classic accountant's interview question – _How much is 2+3?_ with the correct response, _How much would you like it to be_? He renegotiated 2-3-10 percent. The arrangement was quickly agreed on, vault numbers detailed and the like.

… - …

As anticipated, Gringotts was visited the next day. Wills were read and Gringotts was appointed to act as executors of the Wills. Except for Crabbe, Goyle and McLaggen, the designated beneficiaries were already dead. Gringotts would disposition the estate, giving 80 percent to the Ministry and keeping 20 percent for their efforts.

Gringotts, the Ministry, St. Mungo's and surprisingly, the Malfoy estate all eventually gained as did Sirius and Harry, who bought the properties well below market-prices for eventual disposition, be it razing or resale. It was fortunate that both of their estates were comparatively liquid when Sirius and Harry took them over.

That evening Grimreaper reported, "As we suspected, the estate funds that we've turned over are being skimmed. 2% to vault 2124, 3% to vault 3117 and 10 percent to vault 1622."

Ragnok replied, "Basil Debit, Dolores Umbridge and Fudge. Good work, Grimreaper. Keep an extra copy of the records. We'll let this play out until we're ready."

ooo ccc ooo

I had fun with the five scenes illustrated in this chapter. I thought having Connie hand out a survey would be a good way to tell about the huge range of skill levels that her various students would have. Hermione is developing an adult perspective at a faster pace than Ron but its two steps forward and one back for each of them.

I couldn't envision a larger contrast in teaching styles than Erika and Snape. I could not even consider him teaching by means of the directed-discussion teaching technique to save his life. Didn't anyone at Hogwarts consider taking an actual course on educational theory?

Cormac is a victim of war. While not to the extent of Harry or Susan, his life is altered – whether for the better or not remains to be seen. I thought having Harry give up his spot on the team was a win-win.

I've always enjoyed writing the Harry-Poppy scenes. At this point in his life, Harry doesn't need a mother but an adult female friend can always come in handy. I never envisioned either Molly or McG in that role.

I find myself conflicted with the duality regarding Harry and Ragnok. Ragnok has a responsibility to the Nation, yet I believe that his growing friendship with Harry is altering his perspective somewhat. I also was conscious not to write echoes or a weak imitation of one of my all-time favorite tales, Harry Crow.

Harry has taken a giant leap towards a career path. I'm having fun developing that thread.

… - …

O-C June 2019


	5. Grog

Chapter Five - Grog

One day after class had ended, Dobby appeared and said, "Harry Potter sir, Dobby has heard of something that might help great master. Comes follow Dobby." They walked up to the seventh floor together. Then Dobby said, "Watch, Master Harry." Dobby paced back and forth by a strange tapestry.

Dobby added, "The Hogwarts elves are calling this place The Room of Hidden Things, Harry Potter, sir but The Room can become other things. You just have to think hard about what you want it to be and be walking back and forth three times and the door will appear. Come with Dobby, Harry Potter sir."

They walked into the largest room that Harry had ever been in. It was easily four times as large as the Great Hall – closer in size to the Quidditch Pitch.

It looked like the world's largest rummage sale. There must have been 100 rows of, clothing, shoes, trunks, books desks, broken beds – everything imaginable.

"Dobby, who does all of this stuff belong to?"

"No one's, Harry Potter. "Somes things was either put in here by students and left, or by teachers but mostly by elves."

"Dobby, how long has stuff been collecting here?"

"Dobby thinks half of these things have been here many hundreds of years. Head-Elf tells Dobby that students only finds the room every 50 years or so. Dobby thinks the only teacher who puts things here was fortune guessing lady. She puts empty sherrys bottles ins here every day. Elves mostly puts things here at school year-end if students aren't taking thems home."

"Dobby, can you feel if any of Riddle's things are here"

Dobby stood very still for almost two minutes before saying, "Dobby is thinking so, Harry Potter sir but the room is very large. Dobby is being sorry."

They walked for a while – not to search for anything specific, rather to get an idea of the scope of the room. "Dobby is thinking that the next time Harry Potter and Dobby return to the room, Harry Potter should bring his flying broom and Dobby can ride along, searching for bad man's thing, Dobby and Harry Potter should go back now. It is being dinner time."

On the way back, they walked by two trunks that obviously hadn't been there long, as they weren't completely covered in dust. Dobby said, "That used to be bad old master's trunk. He gave it to Draco." Dobby doesn't think that Draco be needing bad old master's trunk anymore."

"No," agreed Harry, "I expect that he won't."

They walked in comfortable silence and the door disappeared after they closed it.

… - …

When he went to bed that night, Harry had another nightmare. He and Draco were seekers in the school quidditch match. They were chasing after the snitch together, neck and neck, as they jostled each other for position. Lee Jordan was commentating, "… And Draco has the better position. They're both within five feet, make that three feet of the snitch."

Just as it looked like Draco might grab it, two shots rang out. Draco let go of his broom and as if in slow motion, fell 200 feet to the ground. Dumbledore looked on disapprovingly and said, "Bad form, Harry."

Harry woke with a start. It was 3AM. He would get no more sleep that night. However he recalled Ragnok's words about opponents and enemies. It was the last time that he had a bad dream regarding Draco Malfoy."

… - …

The next Monday after Defense, Harry excused himself and went back to visit Madam Pomfrey. It had been a quiet morning for her and she was delighted to see him. She said, "I see you came back. Good. Can you stay for lunch?"

He nodded and she was just about to call Smiles, her designated elf, when Dobby appeared with beverages and a plate of grilled salmon sandwiches.

She asked, "How does he do that?"

Harry replied, "He just does. He's the best ever."

Back in the kitchen where he was visiting with Winky, Dobby heard his friend's words, stood a bit taller and vowed to himself never to let the great Harry Potter down.

After they had mostly finished their excellent sandwiches, Pomfrey recalled, "The last time we spoke, you were going to tell me about your scar."

Harry reflected her question. "You saw it a few times when you examined me. What did you think of it?"

She replied, "In 1981 when I first saw it on you, I thought that it positively reeked of darkness. After that, it wasn't anywhere as apparent, if you see my meaning. My guess is that Dumbledore put some sort of masking charm on it just before the Dursleys took you in."

A year ago, Harry would have ranted '_Dumped off like a Salvation Army donation_ but twenty lives had taught him that unintentional slights didn't matter. Her idea of the masking charm was interesting, especially since Windwalker obviously saw through it in a few seconds.

Harry replied, "I expect you're right about the masking charm. I only ever felt it… Madam Pomfrey, I need to ask, are you willing and able to keep this conversation a secret?"

Pomfrey replied, "With Snape and Dumbledore out of the castle, I believe I'm able to keep your secrets. I certainly am willing to. I'll take an oath if…"

"There's no need, Healer. Your word has always meant the world to me. The scar never healed because it contained a fragment of Tom Riddle's fractured soul. It must have simply attached itself to me when he tried to murder me when I was a toddler. Based on what he told me before he died, Dumbledore didn't know of an easy way to have it removed. As the years passed, I expect it was _Out of sight, out of mind_. When he saw me again when I was eleven, he never mentioned it."

The Healer listened in rapt attention.

"Occasionally it hurt; most frequently when Voldemort was nearby or when he was really interested in something."

Seeing the look on her face, he preemptively asked, "I suppose he never mentioned that he lured Voldemort's spirit into the castle after it had begun using Professor Quirrel as a host? That's why he hinted to high heaven that he was hiding the Flamels' philosopher stone in the castle in 1991. Nope, I didn't he'd own up to that scheme. How about when Lucius Malfoy gave an unsuspecting Ginny Weasley a diary containing another fragment of Riddle's soul that possessed her and directed Slytherin's 1,000 year-old basilisk to try to kill people? Nope, he didn't mention that one either. I always wondered why people called him the great communicator when he kept all of the really interesting stuff to himself until a few hours before he died."

She was trying to process the enormity of what he had so casually said.

"Anyway, what got me interested in medicine and healing was when I visited my account manager at Gringotts. The short of it is, after I asked, they brought in their Senior Healer. You used your wand when you scan me. She did the same by looking at me for a minute or so. Two minutes later, Riddle's fragment was out of my head, my face looks like a normal person's and I feel great. I want to learn to help people too."

"Aura reading. I've heard of it but never seen it performed. That is remarkable skill and if I may say, excellent work on her part."

Harry nodded in agreement. He was awed by Windwalker's skill.

"You'd better get to your next class, Scamp. Thank you for the lunch and the enlightening conversation. One last thing, you should pick up a book, The Healer's Helpmate. Its worth reading."

… - …

Friday after class, Harry and Dobby continued their search. Harry brought his broom. He'd transfigured a leather flying helmet, complete with a pair of aviator goggles for his friend, who had never been off the ground. As they became airborne, Harry wished that there was more light in the room and to his astonishment, the room was three shades brighter. Focusing on the task at hand, they flew slowly; about at a jogging speed back and forth as if mowing the quidditch pitch. Harry stayed about ten feet off the floor.

As Dobby was trying to sense the horcrux, Harry was looking at all of the stuff with a critical eye and the beginnings of a plan developed in the back of his mind.

Two hours later, they were about two thirds of the way through their survey when Dobby, (who was sitting in front of Harry) pointed downward. Harry circled around and Dobby kept pointing at the same object.

They landed and approached the object. It was some sort of tiara that had blackened with time. Harry asked, "Are there traps?"

Dobby looked at the object with concern for a minute. He moved back then to the side before putting his eye just inches from the object and stared. Finally he said, "Not traps, Harry Potter but Dobby thinks that Harry Potter should not put bad object on his head."

Harry put his dragonhide gloves on and transfigured an old shoe into a hard-sided hat box. He then carefully placed the tiara into the box, closed it and said, "Great work Dobby. You're the best elf ever. Could you put his into my trunk and lock it without anyone seeing you?"

"Dobby can be doing that, Harry Potter sir."

"Thank you, Dobby. Tomorrow morning at nine we'll take this over to Ragnok."

… - …

Harry saw Professor McGonagall at breakfast the next morning and said, "Professor, I'll need to be gone this morning."

She asked, "Will you be gone for the day again?"

Harry replied, "I don't think so. I had something that I wanted to talk to Ragnok about."

Flitwick, who was sitting next to her, asked, "Mr. Potter, are you referring to Director Ragnok?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Mr. Potter, you couldn't possibly see him on short notice without an appointment. I've only seen him once in my life; I've never actually spoken with him."

Harry replied, "I visit with him almost every week. I'm sure he'll be there."

Flitwick looked at McGonagall who whispered, "He does go Saturdays at nine. Invite yourself along."

Flitwick asked, "Mr. Potter, would it be possible if I accompanied you this morning?"

Harry replied, "Sure. Dobby will be meeting us at Gringotts."

"You and your elf meet with Director Ragnok on Saturdays?"

"Yes Professor. I have to go to my dorm for a tick. I'll meet you at Professor McGonagall's office in ten minutes." He turned and fast walked to the Gryffindor dormitories.

As the two professors walked to her office Flitwick observed, "I'm glad that he ended up in your house, Minerva. I think he would have broken Ravenclaw house."

She smiled at her friend and admitted, "He _does_ keep life interesting."

Harry returned a minute later, carrying the black case. Seeing that she was going to ask, he observed, "Professor, it's something related to the last item that I showed you. It would be better if I didn't show it to you yet."

She'd had a nightmare about that horrible tooth and didn't want another. She never asked him what was in a box or package ever again.

… - …

Flitwick and Harry walked up the polished marble steps. The old professor was amazed that Harry greeted the guards by name and they nodded back. Flitwick was heading toward the teller counters when Harry saw Dobby and Barchoke and said, "This way, Professor."

Barchoke said, "Good morning, Harry. We were hoping that you would come. Well met, Professor Flitwick. It has been too many years since we've looked on each other. Harry, thank you for bringing Professor Flitwick along. The two of us went to class together when we were seven."

Barchoke noticed the case that Harry was carrying and asked, "Would the ritual room be more appropriate than the offices?"

Harry nodded. Barchoke, snapped his finger, a messenger ran over, listened for a moment and ran off to advise the Director that Mr. Potter and Senior Account Manager Barchoke had requested his presence in the ritual room. The young messenger hoped that he still had his head after delivering the message.

They arrived at the ritual room at about the same time. Ragnok was accompanied by his four guards and was wearing his mithril steel plate chest protector. One of the guards was carrying his helm.

Flitwick instinctively knelt, saying, "My lord."

Ragnok said, "Now is not the time for such formalities, Professor Flitwick. Good morning, Harry." The messenger opened the door and everyone except the messenger and the guards entered the room.

Ragnok asked, "Did you have any trouble?"

Harry replied, "Dobby found it. He said not to touch it."

Ragnok unlatched the case and looked at the blackened tiara.

Flitwick said, "By the ancient ones Harry, where did you…?"

Ragnok cut him off, saying, "We're well aware of what this was and what the Dark One has corrupted it to be."

The professor was completely conflicted. The leader of the Nation and a school boy were looking at a priceless piece of history as if it was a watermelon and they were discussing how to slice it up. Harry was pointing at one spot and then Ragnok pointed next to it. They both appeared to agree.

Ragnok stated, "This is the diadem that our ancestors crafted for Rowena Ravenclaw just less than 1,000 years ago. She further enchanted it to act as a repository of knowledge. By legend, it was lost after her death; probably moved by her daughter. Somehow, the Dark One found it fifty years ago and completely corrupted it, turning it into a horcrux that holds a piece of his soul, anchoring him to this plane of existence. Harry and Dobby searched for it, found it and brought it here today to be destroyed."

Flitwick, made to protest, "Director, perhaps there is a way…"

Ragnok replied, "Flitwick, the Dark One made seven of these corruptions. Your previous master, Dumbledore, killed himself, underestimating one of them. Harry has killed four of these monstrosities himself and another with the assistance of Senior Healer Windwalker. Do you wish to throw _your_ life away, underestimating the danger of the seventh piece?"

Astonished by the content and properly admonished by the Director's rebuke, Flitwick knelt and replied, "No Director. My apologies." He wondered, _'What in the world has Potter been doing?'_

Harry was feeling bad for his professor, who was in an awkward position, when Ragnok asked, "May I?"

Harry nodded and replied, "I'll hold it for you. Give me a minute."

Flitwick noticed that Harry was wearing at least the upper half of a dragonhide armor suit. Harry transfigured a galleon into a Darth Vader style helmet and put on his gloves. Director Ragnok looked at Harry's helmet with a critical eye before putting on his own. He also put on a pair of mithril gloves. He took the giant fang out of the case.

Harry said, "Give that stone a scratch if you can. You might want to stand back, Professor."

With a practiced hand, Ragnok etched a scratch across one of the red gems and set the fang down. For nearly a minute nothing happened.

Harry saw a fleck of black emit from the gem, heard a screech and yelled, "Everyone down!" He threw his arms around Dobby and Ragnok and drove the three of them to the stone floor.

BOOM!

Louder and lasting longer than a cannon blast, Harry attempted to cover his ears, only to smack his hands on the helmet.

Ten seconds later, guards burst into the door only to see the strangest sight of their lives - Director Ragnok and a wizard were both wearing dusty battle armor holding each other at arm's length in celebration. Harry grabbed Dobby, hugged him as they, the Director and Senior Account Manager Barchoke were now in a four-way hug.

As the smoke cleared, Harry picked up the larger pieces of the diadem and put them back in the case saying, "Maybe a good reparo or two can put it back to right."

One of the guards reverently placed the fang back in the case while the others accepted Ragnok'a armor and Harry's helmet. After getting up off the floor, Flitwick muttered an incantation at the helmet, making the transfiguration permanent.

Five hours later, soused on grog and butterbeer, Flitwick and Harry made their way to the floo. Flitwick, carrying the box with the shattered remains of the diadem, decided that he had to ask, "Are all your weeks like this?"

Harry replied, "Some. Mostly we just visit and tell each other stories."

Flitwick replied, "Only you, Harry Potter."

Harry admitted the truth in his professor's words but replied, "Not a word of this to anyone, Professor. Seriously."

Flitwick gave an involuntary shudder at the almost instantaneous change between schoolboy and hardened warrior. He replied, "Not a word."

… - …

Monday October 9

Sirius temporarily declined Ogden's invitation to take his seat at the Wizengamot, citing that even with his presence, there still were not enough members to reach a quorum and he still was pursuing a compensatory settlement over his years of unlawful incarceration.

His unstated reasons were that he had no inclination to take his seat until Harry decided to take his and he was having way too much fun watching the goblins systematically dismantle the traditional pureblood snobs' hold on power.

… - …

Harry and Dobby went back to the room one night after dinner. As they slowly flew around the room, Harry asked that the lights be brightened twice so everything was clear to see. Harry mentally catalogued the contents. About a fourth of the stuff was junk. Another fourth was castle furniture – broken beds, desks, chairs, cooking pots, the odd cabinet and the like. It was the other half that caught Harry's eye.

He needed some advice.

… - …

Barchoke liked Harry's plan. They immediately agreed in principle, and then began working out logistics, anticipated volume of material, delivery schedules and other details.

"… When you're going through the trunks, keep in mind that some may be warded, or contain traps. Those are the ones that most likely contain hidden compartments with valuables. Dobby will be very useful to you in those cases."

"Also, remember, the second hand shops will always pay a better price if the items are clean and in good repair. They will choose not to buy some items. It is their business and their decision. We will not directly intervene, nor name you or your party in any way. We will make monthly deposits, less our 20 percent commission into the vault numbers of your choice. Are we in agreement?"

"Yes. Thank you."

… - …

After meeting with Barchoke, Harry met Amelia in the lobby at Gringotts as he'd requested. She greeted him.

"Hi Amelia. How are you today?"

"Things are running surprisingly smoothly this week. What can I do for you?"

Harry replied, "The last time that I spoke with him, Professor Dumbledore told me that you could possibly escort me to row 97 of the Hall of Prophecy. I need to see one."

She was going to ask how he would even know such a thing existed but he'd just told her. She asked, "Do you know the contents of this specific prophecy?"

"Yes, it was made about myself and another a few months before I was born. After we look at it, I'll be happy to tell it to you."

They entered the building and Eric the guard made a show of examining Harry's wand before waving them through. Harry wondered if he actually looked at anything and was silently curious what would have happened if he'd handed him Riddle's wand.

They took the lifts to level nine and Amelia talked to the attendant for a minute. He looked in his book and agreed with Harry's description, Row 97 almost all the way down. The attendant pointed the way and explained the process for listening to one but did not follow them, assuming that the Potter boy would want to hear it in private. Amelia thanked him and they began the long walk to row 97. As they walked down the long row, Harry noticed that the majority of the prophecies were midnight black in color while others were the silver-white color of a cloud on a sunny day. Finally they were nearly at the end and began to search the labels carefully. Amelia spotted it first.

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter. It was midnight black.

She asked, "Are you sure you don't want to hear it?

Harry replied, "No thanks, but you can if you'd like."

She replied, "If you'd bring it to the private listening booth please, I think I would."

He picked it up, and they walked to the listening booth. By habit, Amelia checked it for listening charms and found none. Harry carefully set the glass sphere onto the indented spot, tapped his wand on the rune marked start and stepped out so she could hear it. He'd heard enough of the drunken bag who had inadvertently killed off his family.

A minute later he walked back in the booth, picked up the sphere and placed it back on the proper spot on the shelf. They walked in silence back to the attendant, who marked them as having left the Hall and they took the lifts back to the second floor where her office was. They walked in and she closed the door.

After offering him a butterbeer, Amelia asked, "What happened?"

Harry replied, "I'm asking your word that this conversation or information doesn't leave this room in any sort of detail."

She was conflicted and didn't appreciate being dictated to by a teenager but knew that he'd thought the upcoming conversation through long before he'd even contacted her and had his reasons. She replied, "I'll agree for now but reserve the right to try and change your mind, if appropriate."

"Agreed."

He told her the theory about horcruxes, the items involved, the search for them (excluding The Room) what had happened to Dumbledore and the help that he'd received from the Nation in their destruction.

"Your scar, it's all but gone. You're much more handsome without it."

"Susan and Hermione mentioned that the other day. Thanks."

She replied, "People need to know."

Harry snapped, "Exactly _who_ has a right to know? His followers? Apparently they were all eaten in Azkaban. Fudge? He'll find something else to get bribed over, if he hasn't already. Amelia, it was bad enough being the-boy-who-lived. The sheep think he's been dead for almost fourteen years. You know. Ragnok knows. Who else really matters?"

They sat in a less-than-comfortable silence for nearly five minutes while she contemplated his words. As he was a teenager, she allowed him a bit of a rant and replied, "No one else _needs_ to know. I assume you needed to see the sphere because no one knew how many were actually made?"

Harry nodded and she concluded, "The only thing that I can think of saying is, thank you. Thank you, Harry. Would you like another butterbeer?"

Harry replied, "Please. They taste way better than grog."

She smiled at his words. The amazing teen did have his share of charm.

… - …

After Transfiguration the next week, Harry stayed behind until the other students had left. McGonagall asked, "What is it, Mr. Potter?"

Harry asked, "Professor, there are those who are very pleased with the changes in the school and are willing to help. Is there anything that is needed to make the school better – equipment that needs to be upgraded, replaced or added?"

McGonagall knew a donation offer when she heard one and knew that the young man standing in front of her wasn't talking about pocket change. She replied, "Donations to the school are usually earmarked to go to specific causes or items, though Dumbledore preferred to have them marked to be under his discretion. I'll ask around and prepare a short list for you. Thank you, Mr. Potter."

… - …

ooo ccc ooo

I had this strange image of Ragnok and Harry dancing the Cha-Cha in celebration of destroying the last horcrux. Too much Grog, I guess.

The scene with Harry and Amelia was hard to write. She kept pressing him for more information and that wasn't the direction that I wanted to go. This Harry really doesn't want any news about Riddle getting out.

It's different writing a tale where no one has been killed off in over 60 pages.

When I was first writing the Harry-Poppy scene, I thought, not even Dumbledore would stoop so low as to modify her memory. Then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that he would - in a blink. That said, does anyone believe that he made a serious effort to stop Snape immediately after hearing the prophecy?

If you're still reading my tale at this point, I have a question for you to consider. Is this Harry:

A hero?

A mass-murderer?

A victim of circumstance?

Other?

Why?

I'd love to hear your opinion.

cheers,

Crow

O-C July 2019

… - …


	6. Career Plannng

Chapter Six - Career planning

Saturday October 21

Harry, Hermione, Susan and Neville were sitting in one of the unused classrooms one afternoon and Susan observed, "There's no place for people who've been placed in other houses to actually visit. It's no wonder these stupid divisions between houses exist."

Neville replied, "We can't talk in the library, you can't have an uninterrupted conversation in the Great Hall and as often as not, it's raining or worse outside. I'll mention it to Gran. There are plenty of extra rooms."

Harry agreed, "There's loads. Remember first year – _stay away from the third floor corridor on the right_. There's about a dozen rooms there alone." He was glad that Neville hadn't brought up broom closets. Switching subjects, Harry asked, "So what are you all thinking of doing after we finish school?"

Neville replied, "I'd like to do Herbology research with Madam Sprout. I've asked her to consider me for an apprenticeship."

Susan said, "I'd like to work in the DMLE with Auntie. What about you, Harry?"

"I'm interested in medicine and healing – both magical and nonmagical."

Hermione asked, "What do you mean?"

"I've seen elves practice healing magic. The technique is not the same as what your parents use. I've been healed by the Nation and their healer used a different technique than what Madam Pomfrey uses. I'd like to go to medical school, and also learn from the healers, and other magicals, then use the best technique available for the situation and help people."

"You couldn't get into medical school without acing you're a-levels. You'd need to…"

"That was the information that your dad gave me at my birthday party. Someday I'd like to open a clinic that would treat everyone – all magicals and non-magicals alike."

Hermione cautioned, "That would take years."

Harry stated, "That's my vision. I have the time, the money and the inclination."

She replied, "I do too. We could open a clinic together. Where do we start?"

Harry replied, "We have a year and a half to take our a-levels in science and math, I'm ordering the appropriate books and am looking at different tutoring options. The tricky part is time. Time-turners aren't an option. I'm thinking of dropping Astronomy and Care at the end of the semester and Transfiguration and History at the end of the year. That would leave Herbology, Potions and Charms. As I understand it, they're really the core classes needed for healing."

A flash of the old know-it-all Hermione reappeared for a second as she put her hand on her hip and stated, "You can't take just three classes."

Harry drew a breath and calmly replied, "I wouldn't be taking three classes, I expect to be taking six next September; just that half of them would be offered by Hogwarts."

Susan replied, "Brilliant. How would you get into… Medical school?"

"Apply, get decent a-levels, get a converted transcript from the ministry, get some recommendation letters suitable for non-magicals and throw a bit of money at it."

"What do you mean, _throw a bit of money at it?"_

"Hermione, your dad told me that B students get into Uni every day. They're legacy students, or they make a donation to a school's research fund, scholarship fund, get an athletic scholarship or whatever and they're in. They still have to take all of the classes and the like. Ask him yourself."

"But that's not fair."

"Maybe not but having your family murdered by someone who was mad at the world because his parents rejected him isn't exactly fair. It wasn't fair for Susan either. Hermione, _life isn't fair_. You make the best life that you can with what you've got or are willing to get. Athletic scholarships aren't fair either, strictly speaking. Everything isn't just black or white."

"What about apprenticeships with the healers?"

"I've already got one lined up and am working on another two. Depending on how long it takes to study for the a-levels, I'll try to get in medical school next September, or the year after."

"How could you do both schools at the same time?"

"That part is comparatively easy. Not everyone goes to medical school full time. Your dad was still attached to the military when he started. I'd just be going to both schools part-time rather than working part-time. Are you really interested?"

She looked at him and slowly nodded. It was a life changing moment for her.

Harry suggested "You'd have to figure out some sort of time-line for yourself and line up some sort of apprenticeship. The medical school itself would have the most flexibility. Not every Magical Master offers apprenticeships, some might be too expensive and some might have their apprentices scheduled out years in advance."

"Harry, what do you mean, too expensive?"

"A Master's time isn't free. They'll want money, time, royalties, or something. It's all individually negotiated. It can all be arranged."

"I'm in."

"Good. Here's the information that your dad sent me."

… - …

Two days later, Harry was asked to stay after McGonagall's class. She said, "Here is the list that you asked for, Mr. Potter. The items are listed in order of the priority based on a consensus of the heads of house."

Harry looked at the list for a minute and asked, "How much for the lot?"

Momentarily flustered by his response, she checked her copy and replied, "16,200 galleons for all of the items on the list. Would you like the individual costs?"

"No Professor, just the vault number, please."

… - …

Saturday October 28

That Saturday, Harry met the Grangers at the Leaky Cauldron and walked them to Gringotts. Once they arrived at the meeting room, Harry asked "Would you have the time, ability and inclination to tutor Hermione and me in math and science on weekends?"

Emma replied, "Possibly, yes and yes. Travel would be an issue of sorts. If we met here, driving might become an issue."

Harry glanced at Barchoke who said, "Dr. Granger, our artificers could easily make reuseable two-way portkeys that would allow Harry and your daughter to quickly travel either from here or just outside Hogwarts to your back garden. It is our plan to make them similar portkeys so they could get to the medical school of their choice as well. Hopefully that would eliminate the transportation issue."

Harry nodded and said, "I apologize, Dan and Emma. This is Barchoke, my friend and also Gringott's Senior Account manager who takes care of my financial issues. He helps me tremendously as a problem solver."

Dan said, "Harry, you've obviously thought this through. What did you have in mind?"

"Essentially we each want to take about sixteen hours a week of math and science tutoring during this school year. We want to about double that in July and schedule our a-levels in August. Over the Christmas holiday, we want to apply at Kings and Empire medical schools to attend as half-time students beginning in September. To make that work, I'll be dropping some Hogwarts classes immediately, more after the Christmas Break and one more at the end of the school year. My challenge is to talk Hermione into a similar action, so she doesn't hurt herself, like she did during her third year."

"Currently, I'm taking charms, potions, herbology, transfiguration, history, defense, astronomy, care of creatures and defense. Charms, potions and herbology are the core classes to become a healer. I'm setting up a meeting with my head of house to drop care and astronomy immediately then defense and history after the break".

"We'll take our OWLs in all of the classes at the end of the year. If we get accepted at Empire, I'd like to start with two or three classes there, three at Hogwarts and I have a fantastic opportunity to learn from a Senior Healer for four months beginning in September."

Dan replied, "Emma and I went there. You'll be better starting Empire with two classes than three. You want to do well there. You can always add classes and take clinicals over summer session."

"The other thing that we'll need is help with the application process. We can get equivalent nonmagical transcripts made. I'd planned on asking some friends, teachers and government officials for letters of recommendation. I think Hermione should do the same since we're applying before we have our a-level results. I'm prepared to make a substantial donation to the alternative treatment program at Empire if needed."

At this, Barchoke gave a great laugh and mentioned, "Harry, you might find the _alternative treatment program_ at Empire more familiar than you might imagine. Letters of recommendation from Healers Smith and Pomfrey would carry much weight with that department."

"So where do we start?" asked Dan

"I'll order two extra sets of books and have them sent to your home. Barchoke, if we could get two portkeys taking us from and to the main gate at Hogwarts to the Granger's back garden, that would be very helpful."

Barchoke asked, "What would you like them made from?"

"Watches, activated by wand tap."

"I'll have them ready to pick up by the end of the day."

"You're the best. Thank you."

… - …

The next day, Ron asked, "Harry, what are those boxes on your bed?"

"Dobby must have picked them up for me. They're some books for some new extra classes that I'll be taking with some tutors."

"Ron immediately lost interest and asked, "Hey Dean, wanna play a game of chess?"

Harry took out the book marked _Chemistry_ and started reading.

… - …

An hour later, Ron asked Harry if he wanted to play a game of chess. Harry replied, "No thanks. Come with me; I've got something to show you." They walked to the seventh floor then into the room that Dobby was holding open.

Ron replied, "Merlin's unit Harry! What is all of this stuff?"

Harry explained his plan. "In the next six months, we could make some pretty good gold getting this stuff ready to sell."

Ron thought about it for a moment and replied, "50/50?"

Harry shook his head and replied, "No, 20/47/11/11/11."

Ron gave Harry the pirate eye and asked, "Could you explain that, in English, please."

"By example, my Senior Account Manager sells the stuff for us to various second hand shops that they work with for G100. Gringotts keeps G20 as a commission, netting G80. OK so far?"

"OK."

Harry went slow, remembering that this was all new to Ron. "We give Hogwarts about 60 percent of that 80 or G47. That leaves us G33."

"Why give them anything?"

"Because, it's the right thing to do."

Ron replied, "And you and I split that, right?"

Harry patiently replied, "You and Dobby and I split that."

Ron sputtered, "What? No one gives money to…"

Harry cut him off at the knees. "Don't finish that. Let's say we fix that cabinet up. How would you get it out of here and over to Gringotts - without being seen?"

"I, uh…"

"You wouldn't. Let's say there was a deadly trap on that trunk over there. How would you disarm it?"

"I, uh…"

Harry replied, "You wouldn't. Dobby can do both of those things. He'll more than earn his share. Ron, my question is, will you put in the time to earn yours? I could always get somebody else."

"No! I'll do it."

"Ron, I want your word that you'll work harder in class, get your homework done on time, put in your share of the work here and not say a word to anyone about it. Deal?"

"How much time are you thinking?"

"About six hours a week. If you're not interested, Dobby and I can do the work ourselves or I can ask Dean. I just thought I'd give you first shot at it."

"How much do you reckon we'll make in a month?"

"I'm thinking three or four hundred galleons a month should be doable if we work at it."

"Gross?"

"Each."

Ron's mind swam with ten-thousand ways to spend a bit of gold. "I'm in. When can we start?"

"Right now. _Accio coins_." They were pelted by a rainstorm of coins. Ten minutes later, they had counted about 400 galleons worth of galleons, knuts, pound coins and sickels. Harry replied, "That was a pretty good start. Count 60 percent of it for the school and we'll split the other three ways. Gringotts isn't selling anything this time. They aren't expecting a cut on stuff that we don't have them sell."

"What about these thingies?" asked Ron, pointing to the pound coins.

Harry replied, "Count five of em to a galleon and I'll take them. I can use them."

While Ron was counting out the coins, Harry thought about Barchoke's advice, _'Grab the gold, currency, gems, jewelry, brooms, liquor and trunks first_. You may find wands and rare books along the way but they'll require a thorough search to sort the valuable from the ordinary Do those after you have gone through the first priority items,''

Harry asked, "Do you have a Gringotts vault?"

Ron replied, "Of my own? No. I really don't want to use Mum's."

Harry replied, "I'll get you set up for one. In the meantime, try not to spend too much of that gold conspicuously. Let's start on the…

"Harry, its dinner time. "

"Right."

… - …

Ron did a better job keeping the room a secret than he did with any attempt to maintain a low profile with his newfound spending money. Owls arrived daily for him with catalogs. Harry had advised him to mention that he'd earned some money over the summer working at the shop if anyone asked.

The next time they were in The Room, Ron asked, "Harry, what if there is some stuff that we find that we want for ourselves?"

"We'll work it out. I might want some books, or a three-compartment-trunk. You might want a broom, six spare wands, or something else. Some of the stuff can be used by the school. That will be put on their tab. Why, did you find an interesting pair of knickers?"

"Get stuffed."

"Another thing, if we find stuff that clearly belongs to a current student we'll give it back to them - anonymously of course."

That night they found 2000 pounds in various denomination notes, which Harry bought for G400. Ron went back to the dormitory with G53. Harry added another G240 for the school portion.

… - …

Hermione reviewed the notes that she'd just presented in detail to Professors McGonagall, Smith and Madam Pomfrey. It seemed like a good plan but that didn't mean that their head of house would see it that way.

*Define end goal

*a-levels – catch up work – arrange tutors and transportation - drop some classes

*Apply to medical schools

*Search for healer apprenticeships

*Get accepted to medical school

*Schedule classes part time

*Take a-levels

*6th-7th year - Fit in with existing classes and apprentice arrangements – expecting three NEWT classes. Two medical school classes and one day of study with a senior healer or other. Harry with Senior Healer Windwalker, elf healer / Hermione with Madam Pomphrey

*Take NEWTS

*Take additional medical school coursework four to five years

*Build or purchase a clinic

*Staff as available – open clinic. Search for senior staff member

*Finish medical school

*Complete apprenticeships

*Start practice

The three Hogwarts staff quietly conversed among themselves for a few minutes. While Hermione fidgeted, Harry sat there quietly. He had a plan B in mind in the event that McGonagall resisted the idea of them dropping classes either this year or next.

She asked, "Mr. Potter, you have been comparatively quiet so far. Miss Granger referenced dropping classes. What specifically did you have in mind relating to classwork this year?"

Harry calmly relied, "I intend to drop Care of Magical Creatures immediately, Astronomy at the end of this term and the new history class at the end of the school year. I intend to take my OWLs for Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Astronomy, History and Care of Magical Creatures."

McGonagall remarked, "That leaves you with four classes."

Harry corrected her, "Six actually. We'll be taking Chemistry and Algebra."

"And next year?"

"I hope to be taking Potions, Charms and Herbology through Hogwarts, two classes through Empire Medical School and I'll be receiving tutoring from Senior Healer Windwalker."

"And you, Miss Granger?"

"I expect to take the same Hogwarts classes as Harry for sixth year. I was a little farther along than Harry in math and science and will be keeping my existing classes through OWL level."

Harry added, "The real gate point will be us passing our a-levels. Regardless of where we apply, we'll need those as well as a translated transcript. We'll also be asking for some letters of recommendation."

Poppy asked Erika, "How does this differ from what you did?"

Smith replied, "Similar except instead of different healing practices, I went the dual path of healer training and chemistry at Uni then I completed my potions mastery a few years later. Harry appears more focused on nonmagical/magical medical training with the variation of learning multi-species techniques. Hermione appears to be focusing on nonmagical/wizarding medicine – a slightly more straightforward path. In all honesty, Harry's plan fascinates me. I simply didn't have access to the variety of contacts that he's amassed."

Poppy added, "I expect that both Harry and Hermione will find themselves to be lifelong learners."

Hermione look highly relieved when McGonagall gave her conditional approval, subject to their passing their OWLS and a-levels as well as being accepted into a medical school prior to the beginning of term next September.

Harry was silent. He hadn't been so much asking permission as much as stating his intent - be it Hogwarts or tutors on the magical side. He had no doubts about being accepted in the medical school of his choice, or a similar school.

… - …

After several evenings, Harry and Hermione finished their applications to the two medical schools. As they were addressing the envelopes for Dobby to post and deliver, Hermione asked, "Harry, did you get any reference letters?"

Harry replied, "I got pretty good ones from Ragnok, Fudge, Amelia, Poppy, Erika, Flitwick and your dad. Who did you use?"

"Miss Jessen from primary, Professor McGonagall, Professor Vector and Remus."

Harry looked doubtful for just a moment and Hermione picked it up. "Harry, I don't know any Heads of State or Police Chiefs. I could hardly use my dad as a reference. I've got solid grades and I'm sure that I'll do well on the a-levels."

"I'm in your corner. It'll work. All we have to do is get our foot in the door."

Harry knew just who to contact.

… - …

Sirius and Remus were having breakfast together every Friday as the day fit both of their schedules.

Sirius asked, "How's the muggle bookstore job going?"

"I like it. There's enough flexibility in the hours. I see Dobby every few days. Harry and Hermione seem to be tearing through the mathematics and science books. Just this week, they added Latin books to the list."

Sirius asked, "I wonder how Susan Bones is taking it? Harry said that he's been dating her but he spends most of his time with Hermione."

Remus replied, "They seem to have it worked out. I expect that Susan isn't possessive or insecure, like most teenage girls and she takes her own schooling pretty seriously." He added, "Changing subjects, I saw Dolores Umbridge going from shop to shop in Diagon. She was discouraging the shopkeepers from doing business with Weres."

Sirius said, "She has no business to be doing that."

Lupin remarked, "She hasn't let that stop her."

"What does she have to gain by doing that?"

"Stirs up trouble and allows her to spread hate. What does Fudge see in her?"

Sirius replied "I heard from a rock solid source that she acts as bagman for Fudge's _campaign donations_, or had in the past, I'm not sure about the current situation. She's a hateful witch."

"No matter how you spell it."

… - …

Monday November 6

Connie's defense class was going along smoothly when Ernie (No-question-is-off-limits) Macmillan fired off his latest non-sequitur. "Investigator Hammer?"

"Yes, Mr. Macmillan?"

"Why did they never find the Death Eaters?"

"When, who and which Death Eaters, Mr. Macmillan?"

"Um…?"

"The Azkaban guard crew found the dozen Death Eaters that had been kissed by dementors within two hours. It took that long because the alarms indicating that a prisoner has left their assigned cell block never went off and by Wizengamot decree, the Auror guards are not authorized to be in the cell blocks, except during transfers or the twice daily prisoner count. Were those the Death Eaters that you were referring to Mr. Macmillan?"

"No Inspector, I meant the other Death Eaters that everyone knows about."

"Ah, _those_. You should be careful with '_Everyone Knows'_ statements, Mr. Macmillan and instinctively treat any that you hear with distrust. After all, _everyone_ _knew_ that Sirius Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper and that poor man spent eleven years in prison because a certain government official felt that it was _inconvenient_ to have him disrupting plans that the official had previously made. So which Death Eaters are you referring to Mr. Macmillan?"

"The ones who were in the newspaper the other day."

"Oh, _Those_ ones. To clarify, not a one of those men/women were ever convicted of being Death Eaters. But for sake of discussion, I'll humor you and we'll play this one out a bit. So, Mr. Macmillan, when did they disappear?"

"Dunno."

"Mr. Macmillan, no missing person report was ever filed or received on either the witch or the eight wizards. By law as proscribed by the Wizeengamot an investigation can be instigated because someone witnessed a crime and reported it, or a missing person form has been received, or a body has been found, or the Ministry has been notified of a serious disturbance by the nonmagicals, or the ministry sensors, which by directions from a senior government official, are invariably focused on areas where underage muggleborn witches or wizards reside report a massive amount of expended magic. Which method would you guess triggered the investigation? After a few seconds had passed she added, "Anyone?"

No one answered. She replied, "None of these. There was no investigation. Several of the 'gentlemen' in question had a history of going abroad with young women – apparently to do some sightseeing. A missing person report can be filed by a family member or employer who doesn't know where their family member or employee is. In this case, either the family members had an idea where their family member were and chose not to report them, didn't care if they'd left, or there weren't any family members left to file a report. Since there was no report or complaint filed, there was no investigation."

Connie continued, "The facts are, we don't know what country they were in when they reportedly died. We didn't know that anyone was dead until the death notifications arrived. Granted, they arrived later than usual but the goblin liaison office reported that they had some previously scheduled maintenance and recalibration on their scanning devices. Those excuses were no more out-of-line than those our floo office offered up when being _down for maintenance_ during the years when deadly fires routinely broke out at muggleborn homes."

"No bodies have been discovered, or recovered, Mr. Macmillan. What do you make of that?"

"I don't know, Investigator."

"I'll humor you one last time, Mr. Macmillan. Suppose those nine were all together in France when they died. Why would they all be in the same place at the same time?"

"I don't know, Investigator."

"Consider this, Mr. Macmillan, investigations typically focus on someone who has the _Means, Motive and Opportunity_ to commit a crime. Suppose those nine people were having dinner together with another of their pals. Since they are all together having dinner, that tenth person would have an opportunity to do something nefarious but since the tenth person was one of their pals, there would be no motivation."

In spite of the fact that the rest of the class was having quite a bit of fun at Ernie's expense and that there was a bit of back-handed sniggering going on, they were glued to her words. This is what they'd always hoped that this sort of class would be.

"In this situation, there is no evidence that the nine people were actually together. They had no reported enemies and there is no evidence what-so-ever that they were murdered. We're relying on a reporting system that, by the Nation's own admission, had temporarily been faulty. That said, it's at least possible that Professor Snape could walk into this classroom in the next minute and give you detention for no apparent reason."

With her latest words, more than a few of the Gryffindors were openly laughing, though more than a few students at least glanced at the door.

"So let me ask you again, Mr. Macmillan, what is it that _everyone_ _knows_?"

"Nothing Investigator. Speculation is not evidence, nor is it provable. The _Daily Prophet_ was speculating again."

"Ten points to Hufflepuff, Mr. Macmillan. It appears that you learned something useful today. Class dismissed."

… - …

At the same time Mr. Macmillan was getting schooled, Dolores was receiving the same lesson from Amelia. "Miss Umbridge, you may have misplaced your associates but there are rules regarding missing person reports. Rules that I might add were instigated by Lord Parkinson and Lucius Malfoy some fifteen years ago to make it much harder to investigate disappearances that were subsequently found to have been murders committed by convicted Death Eaters. You are not Lucius Malfoy's employer, spouse, or family member. You have no basis to make a claim that he has gone missing. There is no body and no death certificate – nor is there any claim of serious disturbance from a nonmagical government official. Lucius Malfoy was seen in June with his wife and family. Mrs. Malfoy was subsequently seen in Diagon Alley visiting the shops and bank. They have a right to travel out of the country as they see fit. If you are so very interested as to where Lucius is, why don't you go see Narcissa. This is the last time that this subject will be brought up, Miss Umbridge."

… - …

If the truth be told, Cornelius Fudge was much less concerned over his missing _associates_ than in how to speed the disbursement of the estate funds. He was expecting a G60,000 payday from the disbursement of the Mulciber estate – more than a year of his salary as Minister. It was ironic that there was a minimum wealth test for those nominated to be Wizengamot members to reduce the likelihood of bribery but no such test for those seeking election for Minister.

Fudge had been accepting gifts and favors his entire career, beginning when he was a junior obliviator that had been called in to look at the Sirius Black case. A thousand galleons here, five-hundred there – the gold always came in handy. Then six years ago he was nominated and elected Minister. The money grew. Now it was a thousand here and five thousand there to delay a vote or reallocate department spending from one area to the next.

_No one had really been harmed, had they?_

Black maybe but even that had gotten cleaned up recently. It has been rumored that Bagnold and some of the neutral faction had accepted a total of several million galleons to allow the Imperius curse canard to be accepted as a defense. His accepting a few galleons over what was essentially found money wasn't hurting anyone; it was more like a sales manager getting a commission bonus. He put the thought out of his mind and went back to reading reports from that idiot Weatherby.

… - …

Meanwhile, Harry was up having lunch with Madam Pomfrey. They were discussing his and Hermione's proposed class schedule and while not a full-on traditional apprenticeship, it certainly qualified as structured tutoring and when finished would allow then to eventually test for their healer's certification

Somewhere along the way, Pomfrey asked, "Harry, Professor Dumbledore was always worried that he-who-must-not-be-named would be coming back in the next year or two. Aren't you worried that his return will completely disrupt your plans?"

"Poppy, he won't be coming back. He's gone for good now."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive but please don't say anything about it to anyone."

"Not a word. Thank you. Thank you again. There will be no fee charged for your or Miss Granger's tutoring."

"Of course there will. We're getting the very best. We both expect to pay double."

"Scamp."

… - …

Sunday November 26

Harry and Ron didn't know it but the cleaned and repaired desks were going out to the classrooms and the dirty/broken desks were going back in the room – other elves were aware of what they had been doing and were rotating them back into the castle classrooms. The numerology class had unknowingly been benefitting from their efforts last week.

Ron asked, "Why aren't we going through the trunks? There might be some brooms or an extra bit of gold in some."

"It feels a bit like grave robbing. You can if you want. I'm going to work on these desks for the rest of the week."

"Bill mentioned that when he first started with Gringotts. After the first time that we saw him, he never mentioned it again. I'll try some of the interesting looking trunks."

"Have Dobby look at them before you touch or open any. You don't want to get hexed, or worse."

Harry was fixing a loose leg on a desk when he heard, "Blimey Harry, this one is Malfoy's. There a good bag of gold. Here's a nimbus 2001."

"Leave it."

"What?"

"Remember? Lucius bought those for the team. He had the positions engraved in gold lettering. That one would say Slytherin Seeker. Unless you find more money in it, or a secret compartment, put that trunk back."

"Why?"

"Everyone knows that he had the broom. There would be loads of questions if it just showed up again. Those are questions that we don't want being asked."

"I reckon you're right about that."

At the end of their shift, Harry counted the gold that they'd found that day – 212 galleons. He put 122 galleons in the bag that they were saving for the school, leaving 90 for the three of them. He put 45 each in Ron's and Dobby's pile. He wanted nothing to do with blood money. Harry was in the showers for a very long time when they returned to the dormitories.

… - …

Fudge was ready to start his staff meeting when he asked, "Where's Dolores?"

No one had seen her since the meeting last Monday morning. On the other hand, Fudge aside, she hadn't made many friends in the building.

Bones said, "The last I heard of her were complaints made last Monday evening from about half of the Diagon Alley merchants that she was advising them who and who not to do business with. Was that a self-initiated directive?"

Fudge said nothing. She'd mentioned the idea to him while he was busy and he hadn't specifically prohibited it. The woman could be a nuisance. Aside from personally receiving and depositing his _campaign donations_, she was a nightmare.

Ludo quipped, "Perhaps Finrir invited her to dinner and she incorrectly interpreted it to be an invitation rather than a warning."

Amelia asked, "Are you filing a missing person report?"

Fudge turned to Basil Debit, who headed financial services and replied, "No, I'm docking her since last Tuesday for unexcused absence."

Debit replied, "A reasonable decision." Subtly, he pointed two fingers at Fudge, bent his hand toward himself and pointed with one finger. Fudge made eye contact and gave the slightest nod of approval. Unbeknownst to either of them, Amelia caught the interplay.

Fudge grumbled louder than he'd intended, "She's a living breathing contradiction. She wanted to dismiss all of the maintenance workers. Her father worked here as one for some 40 years until she _advised_ him that he leave a year or two after starting herself. She seemed to think that her father's work her was somehow holding her back."

Amelia gave a pointed look to Percy "Weatherby" Weasley. She'd find a way to get him to see the light, or boot him out the door. She had no time for pompous arses who lacked the skills to back up their attitudes.

… - …

One afternoon, after Ron had left The Room, Dobby asked, "Harry Potter sir, Can you be helping Dobby with something?"

"Sure Dobby what's up?"

Dobby handed Harry his gold bag, saying, "Can Harry Potter sir buy Winky? Dobby has saved all of his earnings and has 712 galleons. Can Harry Potter helps Dobby please?"

"I'm not sure. Winky is not for sale, Dobby. She's a free elf. She's helping in the kitchens. I asked about her after I saw her there."

"Can Harry Potter bring Winky into his family? Dobby is begging Harry Potter sir."

"I could do… Dobby, are you sweet on Winky?" Dobby turned five shades of red.

"Please, Harry Potter sir?" Dobby handed the bag to Harry.

"Winky?"

A few seconds later a, rather raggedly dressed Winky popped into the room. "Yes Mas… Harry Potter sir?"

"Winky, would you like to be bonded to my family?"

"Yes please Mas… Yes please, Harry Potter sir."

"Dobby, can you find some outfits in the trunks that Winky would like and shrink them down please? We want her looking nice, don't we?"

"Oh yes, we does, Harry Potter sir. We does." Dobby had a goofy look on his face and Harry was positive that he didn't want to ask any questions along that line. Instead he asked, "Dobby?"

"Yes, Harry Potter Sir?"

"Would you like me to open a Gringotts account for you? You would have your own key."

"Dobby would have his own key? No other elf… Yes, please Harry Potter sir. Dobby will work extra hard."

"OK. Good night, you two."

… - …

Cyrus Greengrass greeted his wife Roxanne and asked, "How was your visit to Italy my dear?

"Interesting," she replied. "I ran across Narcissa Malfoy at a café in Salarno in the company of a young man. She wasn't wearing her wedding ring."

"That _is_ interesting."

"She sent him away for a while and we talked. She claimed that Lucius had been summoned by the Dark Lord last June, brought Draco to meet him and was never seen again."

"Did you believe her?"

"I'm convinced that she believes that is what actually happened. She went to Gringotts a few days later and the family vaults had already been locked down. She emptied her own vault and sold a few pieces, then left the country. She didn't want to be next."

"I assume that the other wives did more or less the same thing?"

"Narcissa had personally spoken with Connie Selwyn and had written to Cynthia Nott but hadn't received a reply. What do you think happened?"

"I suppose it's possible that the Dark Lord could have found a way to return. Perhaps he was unhappy over their actions over the last dozen years and killed them all. Perhaps he left the country to take up a new life."

Cyrus considered other scenarios and added, "It's also possible that he never returned and some group discovered a way to imitate his summoning. They then could have called his followers and slaughtered them. It's also possible that they are holding them for some reason. What do you think?"

She replied, "I wouldn't be shocked if Dumbledore had been behind it. Maybe he knew that his time had come to an end and cleaned house before he passed away a week or so later. He easily could have gone to Azkaban, opened the cell doors and left without being noticed."

Greengrass admitted, "Your theory makes much more sense than any of mine. Let's go out for dinner. We haven't been to the Flying Horse lately."

ooo ccc ooo

I'm trying with this Ron, I really am. He's been handed the best part-time job imaginable and as I was writing this chapter I was having my doubts that he'll buckle down, get his school work done, practice quidditch and find time to actually be of help to Harry and Dobby. On the other hand, no opportunity arose to kill him off in this story (yet), so putting him to work is the best/worst that I could come up with.

It was hard writing the Dobby-Harry-Winky scene. I didn't want it to feel too pathetic.

It was loads of fun writing the latest Connie Hammer – Ernie MacMillan scene. I still remember hearing his voice as told by the incomparable Jim Dale.

I enjoyed the Greengrass scene; especially the theory that Dumbledore was finally making up for his prior mistakes. From their perspective, it makes a world of sense.

I'm eagerly awaiting getting to write the upcoming Harry-Poppy Apprentice scenes.

What are your all-time top five HP fic stories? Perhaps people would leave a note. I'm always looking for great suggestions – new or old. I'll leave mine in the next chapter.

Cheers,

crow


	7. A Different School

Chapter Seven – A Different School

Saturday December 23, 1995

Harry was ready for the Christmas holidays. After the train stopped in London, Harry said his goodbyes and asked Sirius to take him to Gringotts. Barchoke had both of the items boxed and a sheaf of papers in envelopes for each. Putting them into his bag, Sirius asked, "Where next?"

Harry replied, "The Ministry." Sirius apparated him and a moment later they were at Eric the guard's desk. He gave them their wands back and Harry led them to the elevators. They got off at the sixth floor. Harry walked up to the clerk and said, "I'd like to take my apparition test please."

"Fill this out," said the clerk without looking up.

Harry did and handed it back a few minutes later. Sirius watched in amusement, waiting for the moment then the clerk actually read the application. There it was. Her head snapped up.

"Mr. Potter, sir. We're ready for you now." They took a few steps, when the clerk had finished reading the application and started to say something. Harry handed her the Early Adult Declaration document. She carefully read it before handing it back, then said, "This way, Mr. Potter."

The examiner directed Harry to go from hoop to hoop. He was then led to the Ministry apparition point and told, "Apparate to the alley way between the Leaky Cauldron and the entrance to Diagon Alley. Ask Tom for a business card and be back here within five minutes."

Two minutes later, Harry returned, business card in hand and showed it to the examiner. He signed the apparition license card and handed it back to Harry and said, "Here's your license, Mr. Potter. Good work."

"Thank you, Mr. Twycross."

Sirius met Harry back in the lobby and they went back to #12. Sirius asked, "What are the plans for tomorrow?"

Harry replied, "Dan and Emma gave us the weekend off from studying. We're invited over there, Monday morning for Christmas – Remus too. We're invited over to the Bones manor Tuesday afternoon at two. I expect there be others over there as well. Susan said it was also for dinner but not dress robes."

… - …

Fortunately, they both had purchased black suits one weekend in November. They both looked sharp when they arrived at the Granger home.

Harry was quite pleased with himself with respect to Christmas gifts this year. Hermione just stared at her book before stammering, "How?...Where…?"

"What is it, dear?" asked Emma.

"It's a second edition of Hogwarts, a History."

"Too bad it's not a first," quipped Dan, not knowing much about the book she mentioned.

"His one is just over 900 years old. The school library doesn't have one before fifth edition."

"Sweet Jesus!"

Emma lightened the mood by saying, "OK Mr. eloquent. What did you get?"

Dan unwrapped the large package and… stared. It was a 200 year-old set of golf clubs in a leather quiver, like for arrows but larger. It looked almost new. Finally he said, "Harry, these belong on a wall at the R&A."

Harry quipped, "You could hang them on the wall at your clinic. There're some old golf balls in the bag."

Dan looked and found six feathery hand-stitched leather balls. "How…? Where…?

Harry quipped, "Pretty cool huh. I saw that you had a few old clubs on your wall and thought you'd like them."

Dan could only nod vigorously. He was speechless.

Emma had waited long enough. She tore into hers.

"How…? Where…?"

Harry said, "I saw that you had some of her other books. I didn't know if you've read this one. It said first edition." It looked brand new as if it had never been read. It hadn't.

"What is it, Mum?"

"Emma."

Harry said, "I liked the name. If you like Jane Austen's writing, I think I have seven of her other books and also a little one. Is that one OK?"

She smiled and replied, "Harry, its perfect. Thank you very much."

Sirius and Remus each received a package about the size of a cigar box. Lupin's was green, while his godfather's was blue. Harry said, "They're the same. Open them up." Inside each was an envelope and a key. Harry said, "They're just outside. Go have a look."

Matching MG-F roadsters.

Harry said, "The license, title and insurance cards are in the envelopes. I thought it would be cool to have them be the same."

Dan held Sirius back as they were walking back inside and asked, "Can he afford all of this?"

Sirius admitted, "I suppose it was a bit over the top. As for his financials, by your reckoning he's a bit better than a billionaire with no debt."

Dan asked, "Why is he working his arse off to enter into a career where he'll work long hours his entire life?"

Sirius replied, "Hermione has always said that he has a people saving thing. Maybe it's that, maybe its atonement. They're his stories to tell or not. Honestly, I think he fell in love with the idea of helping people when the goblin healer fixed his scar for him in a way that the wizards hadn't even considered. He's faced a lifetime of challenges. He's not afraid of a bit of hard work."

"It's more than a bit."

"Dan, I watched him fight a real dragon by himself – think Smaug out of the Tolkien novels. _That_ was a challenge. After the muck that he's faced since his parents were killed, he'll think the rest of his life are afters."

… - …

While Hermione was caressing her book, at Hogwarts, Erika heard a knock on her door. Tiki the elf said, "Healer Erika, these is for you." There were two wooden crates and an envelope with her name on it. She opened the envelope.

_Healer Erika Smith_

_In the two containers are the book collection and documents from Potions Master Snape's estate that were purchased at auction by a well-wisher for your use. The collection is extensive. Many of the volumes are extremely rare and most at annotated. It is the donor's hope that you will find these useful. There are 220 books in the green crate which has been reduced in size to aid in transport. Therefor you will want to place the crate in an appropriately sized room before tapping the crate with your wand._

_In the blue container you will find the notebooks, research papers and other hand written documentation that was also purchased from the estate. The donor asks that you review them carefully. Mr. Snape was rumored to have discovered a cure for lycanthropy years back while he was working on his mastery but no findings were ever published._

_As the documents are now solely your property, it is the opinion of our legal department that any previously unpublished, unpatented potions or discoveries are your property._

_The donor has a personal interest that a cure for lycanthropy become available in this decade and has additionally gifted you 50,000 galleons to aid in your efforts. The gold has been deposited in your vault._

_Grimreaper_

_Gringotts Estate Distribution_

Erika was astonished. If there was a cure, the patent alone could be worth 250,000 galleons or more. If it actually existed, she wondered who could possibly hold that much anger as to withhold a cure. She recalled who the contents belonged to and answered her own question.

… - …

Later that evening, in an old townhouse in London, a dark haired man finished his glass of firewhisky, silently hoping that somehow his gift would provide a cure for his best living friend. He knew a long-shot when he saw one but it was the best chance that he'd come across. Granted, this one was expensive but that didn't concern the man. Maybe he'd see real results this time.

… - …

The next day, Harry watched in anticipation as Susan opened her gift. She looked great in a midnight blue knit dress. It was a diamond tennis bracelet set in white gold. Her eyes lit up as Amelia observed, "Excellent craftsmanship."

"Thank you, Harry. I love it."

Harry's face lit up with a smile. It was just what he'd been hoping to hear.

"I'm next," announced Amelia. She opened Harry's gift with some trepidation. He was known for his surprises. Inside was a rack with seven crystal vials marked 1991, Diary, Dumbledore-Ring, Cup, Scar, Locket and Diadem. Also in the box was a chilled bottle of Cristal Brut Champaign and a card that simply read _cheers_.

She closed the box and replied, "Perfect. Thank you."

Finally for his littlest friends Harry had Winky a carefully wrapped package. Little Winky opened it and there was a wooden plaque that read Dobby and Winky Potter est. 1996.

Their eyes lit up in gratitude.

For them, it truly was perfect

… - …

A few days later, when Harry opened the door to #12 after returning from Gringotts, Kreacher greeted him. "Welcome, Master Potter. Will you be here for dinner?"

"Yes, Kreacher. Is Sirius here?"

"Master Sirius is waiting for you in the library, young master." Harry walked into the library. He saw Sirius sitting in one of the comfortable leather chairs. Sirius said, "Come in Harry. Close the door and have a seat. Grab a butterbeer."

"Harry opened his and sat down. Sirius started, "It's been six months since the third task. I wanted to talk with you before you went back to school. How are you, really?"

Harry admitted, "I had nightmares every night until I started talking with Ragnok. His enemies-opponents talk helped me a lot. By chance, I came across Draco and Nott's trunks in a storage room that the elves use."

Sirius, kept quiet in an effort to make Harry keep going without appearing to pry.

"I had a bad nightmare that evening but none since."

Sirius observed, "That's good."

Harry commented, "You've doubtless watched the newspapers more than I have. It's a reasonable assumption that they've all been found by someone by now. Did it ever make the papers?"

"Certainly not the _Prophet. _ I've kept my eyes open in the muggle papers and I never saw anything. Have you ever gone back there?"

Harry replied, "No. I don't think that'd be a good idea on so many levels. I'd be back to nightmares for sure and Dean Thomas was telling me about motion detecting cameras that some hunters use. The local police easily could have set up a few of those to see who walks by."

"What about James' old cloak?"

"You're welcome to use it. I never want to go there again."

Sirius asked, "What about the cup? Could the portkey have been examined and traced?"

Harry replied, "It's possible, I suppose but I broke the cup when I slammed into the ground on the way back. It was in three or four pieces. I never saw it again."

Sirius felt the time was right and threw in the question that he'd been waiting to ask. "That night at the graveyard, did you know who they were?"

Sirius's words ripped the scab off of Harry's festering wound. The teen replied, "I didn't give a fuck who they were. I was trying to keep _me_ alive. I blasted them… You got no choice …The smell, it penetrates you…" A minute later he admitted, "Man, this is hard. I try not to think about it…because when I think about it, I get like this."

Sirius replied, "I know kid, I know… but it needed to be said." He opened new butterbeers and they sat in silence for a few minutes to collect their thoughts. Another minute later, Harry's breathing was back to normal and Sirius pretended not to notice that Harry had wiped his eyes more than a few times.

Finally Sirius said, "The short of it is, I don't think the Ministry DMLE was ever notified that the bodies were found. The local authorities probably didn't know we magicals exist and the case may not have gone any higher. I suppose I could go see if the Glock was ever found."

"Why? There's nothing about it to tie it to you or me. I read a book that said that fingerprints won't last very long on a submerged object. The only other stuff that I touched, I tossed in the fire or brought back. A related subject came up in Defense class a while back and Connie Hammer, the DMLE senior investigator told us that the magical sensors were all aimed at the homes of muggleborn kids – probably hoping to catch someone practicing magic at home. It's over."

There was silence for another few minutes.

"Ragnok knows what happened and he still hasn't released death certificates for anyone who had a Wizengamot seat. They released the certificates for the prisoners held in Azkaban and the small fish like Goyle and McLaggen."

Sirius asked, "Who else have you told?"

"No one. Well, you and Barchoke know but I trust all three of you."

"OK. I've told no one. Should you ever get the urge to tell anyone else, talk to me first. Promise?"

"Yes. Are you going to go out there?"

Sirius replied, "No, but Padfoot might sometime. What do those motion cameras look like?"

Harry replied, "Dean told me that they were about the size of a book and would be strapped to a tree or pole probably 4-5 feet off the ground. He's seen some that were painted green or camouflage. Are you going to take up your Wizengamot seat?"

"Me? No. I'm stalling as long as I can. The other seats can't be filled without a death certificate and a Will reading and Ragnok won't issue them. Honestly, I think he's holding them off in an effort to force the families out of the country and ultimately for you to take your seat. The ministry seems to be doing better, just running on momentum, than it had been."

Harry nodded and replied, "The board of school governors did a great job selecting Neville's Gran to be Head. She found the best instructors that we've ever had. I've no intention to take that duty up for years – certainly not before I finish Hogwarts; more likely I'll wait until I finish medical school. Can he wait that long?"

"He can wait forever as long as the bodies never show up. Then the Ministry would just do it themselves."

Harry asked, "What about Fudge? I thought his term was running out?"

"I think its three more years."

"Did you get anywhere with that book I gave you?"

"Not yet. I've read it twice but that's it. I still have it. Are we good?"

"Always."

… - …

Friday December 29

Dr. Wallace, the head of the department of alternative medicine research at Empire led the tour for the two of them. He reminded Harry more than a bit of Amos Diggory, Cedric's father, with his bristle grey crew-cut and a nearly-trimmed mustache as they walked through the different buildings.

The buildings were as different from Hogwarts as Harry could imagine. There were loads of glass windows in the five-story Charing Cross building. The Hammers building was, in a word, charming with its ten floors and painted trim windows. The classrooms were small, brightly lit and looked very welcoming. The teens knew instantly that this was where they wanted to go to school.

Recalling Barchoke's words and not believing in coincidences regarding their tour guide got Harry wondering if Dr. Wallace was magical, knew of magic, or simply was someone who wanted to believe in magic, given his field of expertise. He gave brief answers to each of Hermione's multitude of questions. Harry wondered if Wallace was silently thinking _insufferable know-it-all,_ or if she was the norm for perspective students. Either way, he was polite and gave an interesting tour.

After a half hour, it was evident that the tour had concluded. Hermione went down the hallway to look at one of the exhibits for a minute and Harry saw his chance. He said, "My financial advisor, Mr. Barchoke was going to send this to the school. Since I was coming here, I offered to drop it off."

Wallace glanced at the 500,000 pound check and remarked, "Mr. Barchoke is a very generous individual."

Harry was worried that Hermione wouldn't be offered a place at the school and commented, "Dr. Wallace, Hermione is eminently qualified, dedicated and highly likely to succeed at medical school. I have every reason to believe that she will be an excellent physician when she leaves here. I'm just a B student but I'll do my best. We come as a package deal and I'm certain that Barchoke will be interested to hear that we're doing well in our classes. His organization is quite familiar with nonstandard treatment methods. Our professor at school, Dr. Erika Smith thought that this would be an excellent school for us to begin our studies. We both thank you for your time today and hope to hear from you soon. Thanks again."

On the way out, Hermione asked, "What did Dr. Wallace have to say?"

Harry said, "He was wondering if either of us needed to apply for financial aid. I told him that we both could manage to pay the normal fees." As they were walking by the buildings again Harry asked, "What was the exhibit that had caught your eye?"

Hermione replied, "Laptop computers and the software that they use at the school." She caught his frown and asked, "What's wrong? Everything looks brilliant here."

Harry asked, "Are you planning on living at home?"

"Of course. Transportation won't be an issue. We could get here in a few minutes. What's on your mind?"

"Sirius' place doesn't have electricity."

"We could keep using the rooms that we've been using for tutoring. They'd make good study rooms."

"Thanks. I think that would be awkward for Susan."

"Call an electrician and get the third floor wired. It's still empty up there, isn't it?" She resisted the temptation to tease her friend about _studying biology_ with their red-haired friend.

"I don't know if the house is too magical or not. Wizards have lived in it for about 200 years."

"Maybe professor Flitwick would know a way to test it or he might be able to teach us some shielding charms. You'll need better light to study anyway and print papers; otherwise I'd have simply suggested getting a few spare laptop batteries. They're supposed to run two hours or so before recharging."

"Thanks."

… - …

Friday January 12 1996

The contractor handed Sirius the bill and was surprised and delighted when the customer pulled out a wad of 50 pound notes. He said, "We used all heavy-duty light bulbs and outlets like your nephew suggested and left two dozen for spares like you requested."

Sirius replied, "Thanks. I'll call you again when I'm ready to get the rest of the place wired. Thanks again."

… - …

"Did you see my saves against Ravenclaw? I was brilliant. Cormac was on top of his game. They didn't stand a chance."

"Sorry, no. We were getting tutored in chemistry all afternoon."

Ron gave a disappointed look and replied, "Wanna go work on the project for an hour? We did pretty good last time."

"Sure."

Ten minutes later, Ron was fixing a trunk and Harry was looking for interesting items. He found a box, looked inside and had a moment of inspiration. Harry called, "Dobby?"

His friend came over hand Harry whispered what he wanted done.

… - …

Harry and Hermione used the portkey to take them to her parent's back yard for the Saturday tutoring session. When they got inside, Emma said, "There's mail for you both."

Hermione looked like she was about to faint so Harry said, "Why don't you open the letters and see what they say?"

"I can't."

"Yes you can. I have confidence in you. Just do it."

She did. (one, two, three)

SQUEEE!

"Congrats. Open mine if you would."

As second later, "We got in, we got in!"

Harry said, "Since both are conditional on us passing our a-levels, let's get started with our work for the day."

… - …

The next morning Harry was walking by the staff table at breakfast to ask Healer Smith a question when he heard Flitwick say, "Tequila? How much of it did you have?"

As he was walking passed, he heard McGonagall reply, "I thought it was a Mexican wine and just had two glasses. My head is throbbing."

Harry willed himself to keep walking.

… - …

Later that day, Harry knocked on the office door and Flitwick answered. "Good afternoon, Mr. Potter. Come in. How can I help you?"

"Sir, I have a practical question that I was hoping that you could advise me on."

Flitwick nodded.

"I'm living with my godfather, Sirius in an old townhouse in London and I want to be able to do my medical school studying there. Anyway, he hired a contractor and got part of the place wired. I think magicals have lived there for the better part of 200 years and I expect that there's quite a bit of ambient magic that's become imbued into the building itself."

"Go on." He wanted to see how much the remarkable teen had thought the issue through and what clever solutions he'd considered.

"My presumption is that magical energy can be absorbed by rock, stone, brick, plaster and less easily by glass, some nonferrous metals and wood. I've little experience with runes. I don't expect that Sirius would be too keen on the idea of ripping the plaster walls out down to the studs and the solution doesn't have to last for years."

"Go on."

"My goal is to be able to minimally operate a personal computer, printer, lighted microscope and proper lighting. I've considered three lines of thought to avoid having the ambient magic wreck the equipment. The first two are variations on each other – shield the walls via some sort of foil wallpaper or buy some sort of military grade equipment that is already shielded to begin with."

"Or both. Go on."

"The third strategy would be to find some object or device that would act like a sponge or sink and soak up the ambient magic from the area then remove it from the home."

Flitwick replied, "Barchoke or Director Ragnok must have mentioned them. Goblin artificers designed them to remove the ambient magic from wizarding dwellings – effectively killing them as magical dwellings before selling them to nonmagicals. They're skilled craftsmen who can create or modify devices to accommodate a need. Mr. Black and yourself could go to Gringotts and ask Barchoke to have one of them speak with you. You'd want to know if you could effectively clean a single room or area and not the entire home. Should you decide to do it, you'd want to have your elves be someplace else while the devices were in place. My belief is that such devices would certainly be an effective, if not radical solution."

The clever professor thought for a bit more and asked, "How long are you planning on living there? The reason that I ask is that your mother asked me the same question when I first came to Hogwarts to teach. She may have tried to do the same thing at one of the other Potter properties."

Harry admitted, "I haven't asked about any other properties. Barchoke seems to be doing well with my other investments."

"I'm certain that he has. If you're looking for a five-year solution, I'd recommend the wallpaper – something with an aluminum or tin base. Buying heavy-duty devices at the same time would be advisable for both yourself and Miss Granger as you yourselves are constantly leaking magic. If you envision yourself living there longer, I'd suggest contacting the artificer."

After he'd thanked his professor and was walking back to the dormitory Harry wondered about the cell phone that Mr. Granger had just purchased.

… - …

June 1996

Harry and Ron shut down their salvage business at the end of the school year and settled up financially. They each took a few items for themselves. Harry took the Jane Austin books to give to Emma while Ron found a 300 year-old broom that he could fly or sell. Dobby took a few outfits that could be shrunken for Winky. There either was a lot more stuff in The Room than Harry had originally estimated, or more likely The Room only displayed so much at once. In any event, Harry didn't have enough time to devote to the effort and Ron was much more interested in discovering what Lavender Brown was or wasn't wearing than what may be in yet another lost student trunk.

The other reason was, Ron had made more spending money than he could explain to last him the next year or two. Harry obviously had never needed the money. Dobby was easily the wealthiest elf in Britain with 2,344 galleons in his own vault (minus the 3 that he'd spent). Since neither Dobby nor Harry had ever given out the secret to opening the door, there was still a room of lost things for the next generation of students.

Having some pocket money of his own was a good thing for Ron. While he was still a something of a slacker, he'd stopped whining about little things and his level of jealousy was now much closer to that of an average person. He'd seen Harry and Hermione studying day and night and also on weekends and had admitted to himself that he never wanted to work that hard.

Harry had asked and Ron was going to work for the twins again for the summer.

… - …

After they had completed their OWLs, Susan, Harry, Neville and Hermione were sitting out by the beech trees by the lake. Neville commented, "I'm glad that they're done. How do you think you did?"

Susan said, "Good in the ones that matter, Probably Es in the others. How about you?"

Neville replied, "I've been doing way better in the wand courses since I found that wand on my bed when we came back from Christmas break. It worked so much better than my dad's old one. I think I did about the same as you – good in the ones that matter to me. Harry?"

"Potions, Charms and Defense were pretty easy. I'm happy with Herbology. Thanks again for tutoring me on poisonous vegetable plants. I must have missed that during fourth year."

"No worries. At the time, staying away from dragons was probably more important anyways. Hermione, how did you do?"

"I think I got Os in everything. I'm glad that the history exam contained other topics than goblin rebellions. I seriously doubt that they've ever rebelled. Fighting back is more likely the case. Anyway, Harry and I will most likely be dropping a fair number of classes next term and taking other classes. I'm happy to finish arithmancy and runes with good grades."

Hermione and Neville walked back to the castle leaving Harry and Susan time to spend together. Harry asked, "When are you and the Abbotts going to Spain?"

Susan replied, "The timing didn't work out, so I won't be going. Auntie offered to have another birthday party for you again. I think it's a Wednesday this year. Can you come?"

"I'm sure I can. Thanks."

She smiled at him and admitted, "I had a great year, Harry. I know we each would have liked to spend more time together but it was pretty busy. We should plan on going out for dates on Friday evenings. I'd like that."

"That's a great idea. Thanks, Susan."

"We'd better hurry up to the castle for dinner now. We'll be late as it is."

"I'm not hungry for dinner."

"Me either."

… - …

On the train ride home Neville quipped, "It must have been a quiet year for you, Harry."

Harry thought about it for the first time – no death threats, no monsters. He replied, "Hard work, time with friends, some extra classes, OWLs and easily the best instructors that we've had here. I enjoyed it."

He smiled at winked at Susan who asked, "When will you two be taking your a-levels?"

"July 17th," replied Hermione.

Harry asked, "Is your Gran going to stay on for a while? I think she did a fantastic job as Head."

"The Board just offered her a three-year contract. She talked them back into a two-year posting."

Susan asked, "Did Professor Sprout agree to an apprenticeship?"

"Yes. I'm going to be working with her ten hours a week next year. I'm dropping creatures. Monsters every week was horrible."

Even Harry had to admit his point. "Good on you. Susan, when does your Internship start at the Ministry?"

"Monday. I'll be working Monday through Friday, from 8-4 through the 30th of July."

Neville quipped, "Maybe they should make our birthdays national holidays."

Harry snorted and replied, "Just yours, Nev. Leave mine out so I can celebrate in peace."

Susan asked, "How about you, Hermione?"

"We register for class on August 1st. My parents are taking me to Australia for ten days. Apparently they always wanted to go there."

She smiled at her friend and said, "That sounds fantastic. I'm going to check on Hannah for a bit." She smiled at Harry, who winked at her while she was getting up.

Soon the train reached the station and a mass of teens met their parents and siblings. In ten minutes, they'd disbursed. By prior arrangement, Harry apparated to #12.

… - …

Tuesday July 16

The evening before the exams the Grangers invited Harry out for dinner. Dan said, "Harry, the science and some of the math appeared to have come easily for you. Fractals seemed to be a challenge but I honestly haven't used them between the days when I took my own a-levels and the time that I picked up this tutoring book. You don't have to ace your exams; you just need to pass them. I believe that you're ready. How are you sitting with your Latin studies?

"I'll be fine."

… - …

The next day, Hermione and Harry sat for a-levels in science, math and Latin (and several others in Hermione's case) By his own admission, he had a harder time with the math than the others. Dan's science tutoring made it seem easy – especially chemistry and biology. On the other hand, it was Emma's kindness and patience with math that allowed him to do as well as he had.

Both of them had devoted hundreds of hours, brushing up on the topics themselves, reading teaching aids and tutoring the both of them individually as it seemed that they were always at different levels or working on different topics.

Harry realized that he could never repay them. Their viewpoint was that he'd found them a way to reconnect with their daughter and given them a cause to work on and that they could never repay him.

Harry happily paid the expedite fee and the results for both of them would be overnight-mailed to the Grangers in two weeks.

Everyone was happy.

… - …

That Friday Harry took to Floo to Bones Manor. Amelia greeted him, "Hi Harry. It's good to see you. How were your a-levels?"

"Hi Amelia. Nice to see you too. I believe that they went well. They work on a pass or fail basis and I'm confident that I passed. We should get our results in two weeks."

"Excellent. What are your plans for the evening?"

"Dinner at the Pizza Union by Kings Cross and a movie. I expect we'll be back by 10."

"10:30 is fine. Be careful. I'll tell Susie that you're here."

Susan was dressed casually but had obviously put some effort into looking nice. Neither one tried to look older. They had no intention of attempting to sneak into clubs or the like. Harry smiled when he saw her, as did she.

He said, "Let's take the floo to Kings Cross. The restaurant isn't far from there."

The restaurant wasn't far. Actually it was by Empire. Harry pointed out a couple of the buildings as they walked passed. They got right in. Susan asked, "What's good here?"

Harry admitted, "Everything looks fantastic. I've never been here. Mr. Granger suggested it. I haven't been to many restaurants – hardly any if you don't count the Three Broomsticks."

"We'll have to go restaurant exploring this summer. I'll get a recommendation for next Friday. What are you having?"

"Pepperoni pizza and a Pepsi. What would you like?"

Susan looked and the menu and replied, "The Tropocali pizza looks perfect."

The server took their orders and both were delicious. After dinner, Harry paid the bill and they walked over to the movie theatre. Men in Black, Lost World, Con Air and GI Jane were showing that night. He asked, "Which one looks good?"

She replied, "We've seen enough dragons and people who change forms. How about Con Air, or GI Jane?"

Harry said, "Let's see that. I have a thing for capable women."

She beamed at him. They bought popcorn, more sodas and sat down. Two hours later the movie ended and they walked back to platform 9 ¾ where the floo was. He asked, "What did you think?"

"Parts were pretty brutal. I hope Auror training isn't like that every day."

Harry replied, "Probably not. Sirius's cousin Tonks says that half of the job is filling out reports."

"You know Tonks? Auntie says she's great."

"Know her is a bit strong. I've met her twice."

"I had fun tonight Harry. Thanks for arranging it. Same time next Friday?"

"Sounds great. She kissed him goodnight."

It was 10PM.

…-…

Two weeks later

"SQUEEE!"

A few hours later, the Flying Horse restaurant in Hogsmeade had a most unusual party at their only-recently arranged private table. The leader of the goblin nation (with four guards standing nearby desperately hoping that nothing would explode), a senior account manager, two senior healers, a man who previously was facing a kiss-on-sight order, a werewolf, a healer/potions master, two nonmagical dentists, a senior ministry official, two elves and three teenagers were dining together, looking like old friends.

"I'm blessed and lucky to be here today, celebrating with each of you tonight. Dobby and Winky are fantastic friends and helpers – much more so than most people know. Thank you. Sirius, you've given me a home and kept me prepared. Thank you. Remus, you've helped me face many challenges. Thank you. Senior Healer Pomfrey, your friendship and guidance along with Healer and Master Smith have been inspirational. Thank you. Senior Healer Windsong gave me the vision that there many methods along the path of healing and that they are all worthy of learning. Thank you. Director Bones has done much to make our world a safer place and to shape and guide my fantastic girlfriend, Susan into the beautiful young woman and wonderful person that she is. I'm beyond lucky that she sees some worthy qualities in me."

As hoped for, everyone laughed and smiled.

"Hermione, you're the best friend a person could have. Thank you for sharing my quest. With the countless hours that your parents have spent helping us, we've passed a gate that, with more years of hard work, and with even more assistance from the healers and masters here will eventually allow us to open a clinic that will be open to all – nonmagicals and magicals be they human, elf, people of the Nation or blended."

"Two others are here who have directly made this dream possible. Senior Account Barchoke has safeguarded and considerably grown the assets that my parents had left me as well as provided sound advice. I'm proud to call him my friend. Thank you."

"Finally there is my mentor, Director Ragnok. He's taken countless hours to offer guidance, listen to my ideas, open doors and shared his vision for the future. He's a great friend. Last but not least, he destroyed the final piece of the Dark One, who some of you know by the made-up name of Voldemort. Thank you."

I raise my glass to each of you. Cheers."

It's not every day that a restaurant serves tea, champaign, water, lemonade, butterbeer, single malt, firewhiskey and (a bit of) grog at the same table.

… - …

July 31, 1996

Amelia had arranged another birthday party for Harry. She'd invited Sirius and Remus, along with Hermione and her parents, Neville, Hannah, Dobby & Winky, the Weasley twins along with Ron. Since she rarely had the opportunity to see them, Amelia also invited her longtime friend, Connie and her normal partner, Investigator Anna Daily.

Winky was especially happy to make a birthday cake for Harry. She made an exquisitely decorated cake with Harry's favorite, French Vanilla.

Harry was in a corner, playing games with the twins and Neville while Susan, Hannah and Hermione were discussing the next year.

Hermione noticed activity at the floo fireplace and made eye contact with Susan. Ron (who'd been expected) had arrived followed by Molly carrying a cake, followed by Ginny – neither of which had been expected. Molly saw Harry and immediately began walking towards him. In an instant, she and her daughter were blocked.

Connie, flanked by Anna said, "Hello, Mrs. Weasley. What brings you here today?"

As she was speaking, Amelia noticed them and began walking over

Molly began, "It's Harry's birthday. I'm practically his mother. The family was invited."

Amelia made sharp eye-contact and stated in her no-nonsense quiet voice. "Mrs. Weasley, I wrote and sent the invitations myself. I remember inviting your son Ronald. Are you stating that my memory is failing me?"

"No but…"

… - …

Hermione softly suggested, "Harry maybe you should go over there before something gets said that will be hard to unsay and quietly do a charm to detect food tampering. She still thinks you should marry Ginny."

"Who? Ron's little sister? Snakeface would win Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award before I'd look at her twice. Susan's my girlfriend." She beamed at his words.

… - …

"There you are Harry. Ginny and I just stopped over to drop off your birthday cake."

Harry made eye contact with Ron, Amelia and the investigators, put on a forced smile and replied, "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. It was nice of you to remember my birthday. I can see that you and Ginny are busy today. You two should be on your way. Thanks again."

Seeing no other opportunity to gate crash, Molly replied, "We'll be going. Enjoy your day, dear."

Amelia gave Harry a nod then he turned and followed Ron to join the group of teens. She carried the cake into the kitchen.

Connie and Anna went back to visiting after the excitement ended. Having discussed Susie, the conversation turned to Harry. "He reminds me of a 20 year-old Moody. He wants to be a healer. He's the highest-skilled wizard that we'll never see as an auror. He's attending muggle medical school in September." Ever the romantic, she added, "He's sweet on Susie too. Those emerald eyes…"

Ignoring he partner's _Hallmark Movie_ perspective on romance, Anna asked, "How did you like teaching?"

Connie replied, "I loved it. The year before, Dumbledore allowed the stinker who impersonated Alastor to show the kids the unforgivables and he actually placed the fourth years and above under the Imperius curse! Talk about giving your enemy the perfect opportunity to gather intelligence – who is easily susceptible and the like. He should have had Poppy give medicals to all of the girls – Good Lord, Dumbledore must have been off of his rocker."

Anna remarked, "Why just the girls? These days, who knows what happens?"

"Speaking of stinkers, did you ever look into the disappearance of all of the missing Wizengamot members?"

Anna replied, "Heavens no. The only one who ever complained about it was Dolores, on behalf of that leach, Fudge. They didn't work for him. Their own laws are working against them. .

"As far as Fudge goes, I'm surprised he hasn't found other stinkers to sell his soul to, so he can fund all of his _vacation retreats_. Same issue as the others – no missing person reports, no death certificates, no bodies found. Personally, I hope they're all buried in the foundation of that new football stadium in Birmingham. There must have been fifty investigations that we should have run in the last fifteen years that were impeded because of that Malfoy-Parkinson law about missing person reports needing to be filed by a family member or an employer. All they had to do was transfigure the body into a dog bone and that was the end of it."

It was a great party.

… - …

The next day, Harry and (mostly) Hermione looked at the first-year medical school class list with trepidation. The enormity of what they were facing was beginning to set in. Getting through these, taking the Hogwarts classes and beginning their work with Windsong and Pomfrey suddenly felt like an impossible load.

First year would typically be:

*Pathology – the causes and effects of diseases

*Intro to Psychiatry

*Human Development

*Genetics

*Embryology

*Clinicals – medical interviewing and physical examinations

Emma and Dan looked carefully at the brochure and recalled their own time. Dan remarked, "I started with Pathology, Psychiatry and Human development as well as my time with the military. It was too much. In your cases, I'd recommend Pathology and Human Development for the first semester and Human Development along with Intro to Psychiatry as classes. You can always start your clinicals over the summer or next September. Medical Interviewing is an excellent first clinical."

At Hermione's first twitch of resistance, Emma observed, "What you're not considering my dears is that you effectively took your a-levels a year early and will easily be the youngest in med school."

Hermione admitted, "Dr. Wallace may have mentioned that."

Dan continued, "So instead of being hopelessly behind, you'll be better than half a year ahead by next September. You'll also have acquired extra knowledge, skills and experience that no first year would ever have." That seemed to pacify their constantly-competitive daughter a bit.

Dan added, "You should see what days and times the classes are offered and check at Hogwarts as to their classes to avoid conflicts. You have an astounding logistical advantage; it took me two hours each way to get to London from the base."

… - …

As if by magic, sixth year Charms, Herbology and Potions were offered Thursday afternoon, Friday morning and Friday afternoon respectively. Pathology was Monday and Wednesday morning while Human Development was Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. Windwalker and Pomfrey had both agreed to Saturdays from 8-noon. While it didn't look like either would be getting much sleep, it appeared doable.

… - …

Medical school started three weeks before Hogwarts. They were both relieved at that, as it would give them a chance to get settled in a bit before starting with their magical classes.

Harry and Hermione sat in the second row of the classroom, which had about 30 students. Naturally she had wanted to sit front row center while Harry would have preferred to sit towards the back. The second row was their compromise.

"Good morning. I'm Dr. Magnum and for most of you, welcome to medical school. The study of pathology is a good launching point. Pathology comes from two Latin words. Logos means study and Pathos equates to suffering. As used in this introductory course effective we're referring to the study of disease."

"Some of the words frequently used deserve explanation. A few other frequently used words will need explanation. The first is Etiology, which effectively means the cause."

"Morphology is easily explained as appearance – either in a gross/visual level from a naked eye or a micro(scopic) or cellular level."

"Pathogenesis – Mechanism or process steps - th progression of disease such as diabetes or heart disease."

"The goal of medicine is to understand the steps of a progression and introduce a treatment to avoid having the disease get any worse, or, ideally reverse the damage via a cure."

"Let's consider some examples…"

Harry was immediately glad that he'd studied Latin as his third class for a-levels. Five years of using the language at Hogwarts had certainly offered a long leg up but actually studying the language vastly broadened his vocabulary.

He was going to enjoy this.

ooo ccc ooo

I expect that Harry and Hermione will be the youngest in their classes. As the same time they'll probably be the most experienced due to their other tutoring. I'm all but positive that I've messed up on some of the academic details. Please let it go.

Connie and Anna seem to be amused at the irony of the laws the Lucius and Parkinson had passed years back limiting who could file a missing person report and the circumstances that an official investigation could be launched.

Someone asked me when the DEs/traditionalists were going to fight back. The DEs are all in the ground. As far as fighting back, who would do it and against who? When Harry appeared on the winner stand, not saying anything controversial. a serious change was made to the tale. There is no target on this Harry's back.

The rant that Harry briefly went into with Sirius was similar to one that I'd heard from a Vietnam Veteran a few years back – some 40 years after the event. Any veteran that you meet needs your words of thanks and a bit of slack. Countries ask a lot of their young men and women.

Everyone has their favorites. These are some of the tales that I'll happily go back to over and over.

West of Here - MK-One

Harry Potter and the Summer of Change - Lorddwar

Notebooks and Letters – ChemProf

A Different Halloween - Robst

The Accidental Animagus – White Squirrel

A series of tales that largely formed my view of Hermione - Sloth

The tale I'm waiting to be finished – On a Pale Horse – Hylian

The tale I wish had been finished – Palimpest – Larry Huss

cheers

crow


	8. Fantastic Training

Chapter Eight - Fantastic Training and Where to Find it.

September 1, 1996

They both began to be slightly annoyed by the sheer inefficiency of the train. While it was always nice to see Neville, Susan and occasionally Ron, deep down they both felt like it was six hours wasted.

"How's working with Professor Sprout, Neville?"

"Perfect, thanks. I've been going three times a week since the beginning of August."

Hermione asked, "How was your internship, Susan?"

"Mixed. I did a fair amount of filing, which I'd been warned ahead of time to expect. It was nice to meet all of the Aurors. I got to go in patrol as an observer twice. It may have been an excuse for Tonks to stop for ice cream but going on patrol sounds better. On the other hand, it was my first job and putting a bit of my own gold in my vault was cool." Harry was glad that Sirius had made a G5,000 grant to the ministry in June, specifically designated for summer DMLE interns, so Susan was able to get her job.

Hermione replied, "My parents used to rope me into refiling patient charts in the summers. It happens. Harry, I always meant to ask, what happened to Mrs. Weasley's cake?"

Susan gave Harry a look and he told her, "Winky kind of threw a fit since she'd spent so long making one. Amelia suggested that she bring it to work for the Aurors to eat."

Susan picked up the story and added, "Winky put it on Auror Dawlish's chair so he could cut it up and serve it."

She was doing her best to keep a straight face and had to pause for a moment. Hermione asked, "What happened?"

"Apparently he didn't notice that it was there and… well, he sat on it." The laughter was contagious.

Hermione asked, "Did you ever?"

Harry replied, "No idea. Let's assume not."

When they got off the train, Harry was again glad that most of the students had no idea that the carriages were being pulled by thestrals. None of his classmates or their families had been murdered, tortured or had their homes burned over the summer.

… - …

On the way back to the floo after their third week at medical school, Hermione asked, "Aren't you glad that you read ahead like I suggested? It's a lot easier to listen to an instructor when every single sentence isn't new information. That way you can hear the different things that they're talking about and more easily understand how they fit together."

Harry had felt pretty good about the material and wisely agreed with her. It _had_ made hearing the lecture easier and they hadn't looked visibly stressed just ten minute into the first lecture like a few of the students had. Within a week, the first of their classmates had dropped out.

They put their books away and ran into Ron in the Great Hall, who was excited. "Hey mate, you should have heard the new defense instructor. Great defense instructors two years in a row. This could be a new Hogwarts record."

Harry looked up at the staff table and nodded at Anna Daily. He'd met her a few times at Amelia's. She'd worked as Hammer's partner for a dozen years and they both had been at his last birthday party.

... - …

Potions was their last Hogwarts class of the week. Harry was glad that he'd purchased the reference books that professor Smith had recommended the year before. As she'd suggested, his were getting marked up at a terrific rate.

After the class had ended, she asked Harry and Hermione to stay. When the other students had left, she asked, "How were your first weeks at medical school?"

"Brilliant," replied Harry just a fraction of a second ahead of Hermione.

Healer Smith observed, "One of the hardest aspects of your Pathology class will be to avoid blurting out, _That could be fixed by magic in an evening._ I had the same issue in Chemistry. When the discussion gets to the so-called incurable diseases, the best way that I found for myself is to think or say _the treatment or cure just hasn't been found yet_. In many cases, it's also the truth. Nonmagical medicine and science has taken a series of giant leaps ahead in the last generation."

They talked for a while and Erika concluded by saying, "I'm proud of the both of you."

"Thanks."

"Let's go get dinner."

… - …

At dinner, Ron asked, "Hey Harry, do you want to come watch the tryouts tomorrow? Alicia is captain this year and there are chaser openings."

"I can't tomorrow, Ron."

"Why? You're only taking three classes plus that wonky medicine thing."

Harry calmly replied, "We're each taking six classes and one of mine is tomorrow. I think Hermione has one tomorrow too."

Slowly but surely, Harry and Ron were drifting apart.

… - …

Poppy greeted her student. They sat at the chairs and the senior healer began. "Last time we talked about vascular breaks and cuts. A simple cut is easy to heal as you saw when you worked with the practice mannequin. In addition to the muscle tissue, there are the nerves and blood vessels to consider. Generally, intent will supplement thinking about specific nerves. What are the limitations?"

"A large mass of tissue loss, such as a bite from a large animal, a blast such as a _reducto_ hex or a dark spell such as the one Snape developed _Sectumsempra_. In that case, he had also developed a specific counter-curse."

"Alastor Moody lost his leg to that curse. Snape claims he hadn't cast it but he must have shown it to the Lestrange brothers. Moody was a good lad when he was in school and had full use of… everything."

"Madam Pomfrey, Moody must have been ten years older than you."

"Not really. His injuries made him look older than he was. Enough of that; today's discussion is on methods of repairing bone breaks or replacing bones, if needed. It is another area where magic clearly has an advantage, at least in speed on the simple end."

… - …

Gringotts Senior Healer Windwalker proved to be very easy to work with. After a month of her patiently delivered lessons, Harry had something of a breakthrough. As with the previous sessions, she had placed a dozen practice aura stones in a random order and Harry was tasked to tell her the colors. For ease of discussion, she had provided a simple color chart so he could describe lime green vs. medium green.

For the first time, he got all twelve right.

"Very good, Mr. Potter. It takes most of my students at least three months to learn to Look properly. In the next lesson, we'll talk about what the different colors mean. Then I'd like you to walk through the hospital that you take classes at. Look at some of the patients and compare what you saw vs. the diagnosis that is on the chart. You're a capable student, Mr. Potter."

"I'm fortunate to have such a patient instructor, Senior Healer. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with me."

"Have a good week, Mr. Potter." She turned and left the room.

… - …

Tiffin, the healer elf arrived. Harry greeted her and said, "Thank you for coming today. I hope to learn much that will be useful in the future. My friend Hermione and I are planning on opening a clinic that will treat everyone."

"That is a worthy goal, young Harry Potter. The elves are aware of your great deeds. There are two things that I can teach you that may help you in the future. Unlike human wizards or those that you learn from of the goblin nation, Elves never use magical foci to channel magic. Because elves do not have this hindrance, we are closer to our magic."

Harry understood her words and nodded for her to continue.

"Allow me to demonstrate." She pointed her finger at Harry and his left shirtsleeve was neatly rolled up. She pointed again and a three inch scratch appeared along his left arm. It was bleeding but just.

In another situation, Harry would have complained and said ouch. However he knew that complaining would end the lesson.

Tiffin said, "Harry Potter, you could use your wand and heal this, leaving only the barest trace of a scar. By using focus and intent, slowly pass your finger just over the scratch and will your magic to heal your arm."

Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nothing happened.

After he had tried it three times, she directed, "Feel your magic healing your arm."

It worked! His arm looked perfect.

"Very good, Harry Potter. She we try again?"

"I'm ready."

Remember to focus. She flicked her finger again and a much deeper slice appeared lengthways along his left arm. It reminded Harry of what Pettigrew had done.

"Focus, Harry Potter. Think about healing your arm. Now heal it."

… - …

By Tiffin's tenth visit, Harry could heal any injury that he was currently able to heal with his wand.

"Tonight Harry Potter, I'm going to show you how to see magic. It is similar to Aura reading that Healer Windwalker has helped you with, except you will be able to see magic that has been done to objects. As if she could read his mind, she said, "It would be similar to what your good friend Dobby saw when he looked at the Dark One's locket at your Godfather's home."

Harry wasn't sure that he wanted to know how she knew. She said, "Take two coins out of your pocket Harry Potter. Cast a freezing charm on one and a heating charm on the other."

He did and the mixed up the order of the coins and said, "Harry Potter, look closely at the coins and tell me which one is hot. Think of the heating charm and you can see it on the coin."

He saw it, almost immediately

"The one on my right."

"Very good, Harry Potter."

… - …

By Tiffin's twentieth visit. Harry could look at an object and identify more than half of the spells that he knew how to cast. He knew the technique and just needed practice.

Like every visit, he paid her the requested two galleons.

Like every night, before she left, she reminded him, "Elvin magic may only be taught by an Elvin Healer, Harry Potter. Elvin magic could be used to do terrible things Harry Potter. Elvin Healers always look at a witch or wizard's soul and see if they be good or if they be bad before showing them anything. That is your agreement. You will live with it your entire life, Harry Potter."

"Yes, Healer Tiffin."

… - …

December 1996

While Harry was getting off the train, Sprout, Pomfrey, Erika Smith and Flitwick were at the Three Broomsticks, discussing their two favorite students. Erika asked, "Poppy, how is Hermione doing with her apprenticeship?"

"Wonderful. Her medical school classes have provided her so much reference information. It's exciting to watch her skills grow on a daily basis. What are you seeing in her classwork?"

"Steady progress. I don't think she'll ever see the joy in experimentation. She finds her delight in mastering techniques that have already been developed rather than starting with an idea and inventing something new."

Pomona concurred. "No two plants are identical. As such, no two batches of potions ingredients would be identical. Potter caught onto that in the last month or so. He's giving my Neville a run for his money now. I see him looking at plants now and instinctively picking out the most useful one. It took me years to master that skill."

Erika agreed. "He's done the same thing in potions. His completed samples are near-master quality. That's what bothers me."

Flitwick chimed in, "You see it too? I believe he's completely bored with his classes here. Honestly I think the only think keeping him here are dinners with Miss Bones."

Poppy realized that she would need to run his apprenticeship at a much faster pace when he started, with after Hermione had finished.

… - …

While Harry and Hermione were being discussed in detail in Hogsmeade, they were finishing their first semester exams at Empire. Hermione did very well in Human development. Harry utterly aced pathology. His lessons from Windsong had given him a true skill in Morphology identification.

They registered for their second semester classes - Introduction to Psychiatry and Genetics. They both deferred starting their clinicals; thinking that they'd already had more than their share of hands-on during their apprenticeships. Harry had learned skills that few living wizards possessed while Hermione had helped treat a dozen patients so far at Hogwarts.

Hermione remarked, "I think genetics will be fascinating. I'm all but positive that there is a switch somewhere in our DNA that dictates if a person will be magical or not."

Harry replied, "Maybe we'll find it someday."

… - …

Sirius and Remus were having their weekly lunch. Remus pointed out, "You've been a free man for just short of two years. Now what?"

"I'm still working on a project, Mooney. I started on it a while back. I'm waiting to hear on the results."

… - …

June 1997

The second semester had flown by. One day it seemed like there was still snow on the ground and the next, it was June.

Six weeks earlier, Erika had given her potion class a series of research topics and had them work in pairs of her choosing. All of the topics were different. She'd asked for a ten page thesis along with a 2-3 minute delivered summary. Two presentations remained.

Hermione & Neville were given the project, _How is the study of potions advanced?_

Surprisingly it was Neville who took the lead to give the summary. "At our level, potions are best advanced by working with the phrase, _this is good but I wish it…_ The _it_ could be; was more effective, lasted longer, was easier to make, also did this or that, was less expensive or tasted less hideous."

The class gave a smile of approval. Most potions smelt of cesspool water.

"At or below the ordinary wizard level, which is where most witches and wizards in Britain currently are, it simply isn't practical, or safe to start from scratch and concoct an original potion. Apothecaries exist for a very good reason. One thing that I learned is that most Apothecaries are owned by potions masters and staffed by NEWT graduates and, within practical limits, are quite willing to modify potions on request."

Erika said, "Very good, Neville and Hermione." She accepted their twenty page thesis on the subject. She also heard the politely stated challenge to raise the average skill level and have many more students finish Hogwarts having earned a NEWT in potions.

"Susan and Harry, your topic was, _where is the dividing line between medicine and potions?_ Who will give the summary?"

Harry winked and gave an encouraging nod to his girlfriend. She said, "I'll be doing that, Professor."

Susan got up and walked to the front of the class. Harry nodded again and she began. "It's likely that many pharmaceuticals being sold today already contain one or more of what we could consider to be magical ingredients."

She immediately had everyone's attention. It was obvious that hardly anyone who had been raised in the magical world had ever given the slightest consideration to medicine.

Susan continued, "That said, most of the so-called potions that we made in first and second year were in fact pharmaceuticals or in the common term, medicine."

Erika thought their summary was spot-on so far.

"We believe that the real distinction is that a true potion can only be created by a magical because at one or more points in the process, a witch or wizard's magic is imbued into the solution. This could be accomplished by means of casting a charm, wand taps or similar." Erika nodded encouragingly.

"Common, examples that we could think of would be hair growth, acne relief, pain medication and ED – their solution apparently lasts up to four hours."

As intended, there was a bit of sniggering, though Susan kept a perfectly straight face.

She continued, "As such, if Mr. Filch ever desired, he could make such a potion, though he would be unable to create a shrinking solution, if he ever needed one."

The class was openly laughing now

She finished, saying, "That concludes our summery." Harry handed the nine page thesis to Healer Smith who accepted it, whispering, "Good job."

… - …

Harry reread the book that Sirius had given him. He and Hermione were constantly being given, or recommended to read extra reference books. Harry was sure that like this one, they were all good, useful and something that he wanted to learn.

The reality was that he felt like he was already going at full speed. The genetics class was taking twice as much effort as pathology did in the first semester. He'd come back to the extra project in a few weeks when all of the exams were done.

With a new appreciation, he recalled Dumbledore words about wanting wool socks for Christmas.

… - …

Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup. Dennis had switched to seeker after McLaggen had finished school the year before. Dennis had caught the snitch in all three games, though he'd previously stated that he thought that he be a much better keeper.

Harry hadn't seen a game this year. Most weeks he was gone from Saturday morning through breakfast on Sunday, studying in the third floor at #12.

They were Hogwarts students in name only.

… - …

Like the year before, Harry and Hermione found the train ride back to London to be a both relaxing opportunity to take time to visit with friends and a waste of time in terms of efficiency.

Susan asked, "How is your extra work going with Professor Sprout, Neville?"

"Fascinating. We're trying to shorten the growing time of the mandrake plants."

Harry asked, "By how much?

"When we grew then in second year, they took 36 weeks to mature. The ones that we grew this year took 34 and a half." He sounded quite pleased with himself

Harry asked, "Have you tried grow lights? They're pretty popular among… some gardening hobbyists."

Hermione gave him a withering look, then thought about the concept itself. It wasn't an incremental step; it might be a giant leap that could cut the time by 60 percent. She added, "I think that's a very worthwhile idea to try, especially with how little light there is in Scotland in the winter."

Harry added, "There would be some logistical issues. Inverness is a bit more than 35 miles away. Some sort of generator might be a better solution than running electrical wire however far it is to the closest line. On the flip side there would be some noise unless a permanent silencing charm could be applied."

Hermione replied, "You said it wasn't too expensive to do the area where you live. Maybe Neville could get the greenhouse at Longbottom Manor wired and run a test?"

Harry added, "This could have applications far beyond Mandrakes."

Through no effort of his own, Neville Longbottom had just been handed _a big idea_ that would make him a lot of gold and earn his mastery within two years.

… - …

Friday July 5, 1997

After returning home from school, Harry decided to turn the tables on Sirius and direct the conversation. He had Dobby call Sirius up to his school laboratory and made certain that all of the equipment was turned off, should there be any outbursts from either of them. He also put the covers over the equipment.

Sirius saw him and said, "Welcome back. I hadn't heard you come in.

After a few minutes small talk Harry asked, "Are you dating anyone?"

Completely taken back Sirius admitted "No."

"Is it something that you're interested in?"

"No. Are you going to give me _the talk_?"

Harry replied, "No. Is Mooney?"

"I don't think so but he does seem to enjoy talking to the birds at that book shop where he works. We're mates Harry, not lovers."

"I wouldn't object either way."

Intentionally switching subjects, Sirius asked, "Have you asked Barchoke to do anything with the properties that you bought?"

"I was planning on holding onto them for a while. How about you?"

"The only one I had a real interest in was from Snivellus. I'm playing a hunch. He was a mean, vindictive git who has been holding grudges since he was eleven."

"What about the Malfoy estate?"

Rockcrusher said that I should get a third when the certificates are processed. I'll sell you the property itself for a galleon. I expect that it could be very good farmland."

"Sirius, I'm worried that you're not doing anything."

"But I am. I'm working on a project. I'm hoping to see results on it this summer. On a different subject, you should ask Barchoke to give you a clearer picture of your own portfolio this summer. It's time that you understand the extent of it." He gave Harry a roguish leer and added, "You may want to take Miss Bones away for a weekend sometime."

"Padfoot needs to stop smelling women's' crotches."

"Kill joy."

…- …

Saturday July 6, 1997

"Greetings Harry, it has been far too long. Please sit down." An instant later one of the messengers brought a tray of butterbeers and a steaming cider beverage that Ragnok picked up. He asked, "Are you thinking about claiming your chair within the Wizengamot this year?"

Harry replied, "Not if I don't have to. Minimally, I'd like to finish at Hogwarts. Preferably I'd like to wait a few more years if I can. I'm planning on talking with Amelia later this afternoon to get her observation about how effectively the Ministry is running without constant chatter from the Wizengamot."

Ragnok nodded and replied, "She would have a good vantage point. You're making a good decision to get her input. The remaining death certificates will not be issued until you've taken your seat and the Wizengamot has selected new members. Don't wait too long; Aberforth Dumbledore won't live forever. The Parkinsons and Bulstrodes are not residing in the country. I believe that it is likely that Pansey Parkinson will claim her seat when she hears that you have and not before."

Ragnok mentioned Fudge and the skim but stated that a new minister could not be named without a functioning Wizengamot. He added, "The Nation would prefer someone with vision who is able to direct changes and who wouldn't remain in the office for a decade. I expect that Amelia is aware of the skim participants. Please let her know that we have documentation for her."

"I'll let her know this evening with her this evening. On a different subject, would it be possible for me to speak with Senior Healer Windsong, if she is available?"

Ragnok called for a messenger and said, "I'll ask her to go to meeting room one. Thank you for coming to see me this morning, Harry. I hope to see you again before too much time passes."

"Thanks for the advice. I always enjoy talking with you."

Ten minutes later, Harry left Gringotts. Windwalker had offered to tutor him four days a week for four weeks on Monday – Thursday mornings.

… - …

As previously scheduled, Harry arrived at Bones manor. As Susan was still getting ready and hadn't come down yet, there was no awkward feeling of exclusion. Amelia brought him into the study and closed the door. "How was school this year, Harry?"

"Fantastic, I learned some skills and techniques that will help me save some lives in the future."

"And how about Hogwarts?"

"Some the techniques that the elves have taught me helped me do really well in Herbology. I've come to enjoy and appreciate potions. Healer Smith is brilliant as an instructor. In charms, I've come to believe that I've learned all of the basic techniques. I expect that seventh year will be applying those basic techniques to a seemingly endless amount of situations. From what I've seen, elvin and magic from the Nation only have a comparatively few number of techniques. Instead of hundreds of charms, hexes, curses or transfiguration configurations, they're almost entirely intent based. I'm not saying that they're better or not, but the elves don't go around giving each other spell books for the first 75 years of their lives."

She was going to mention that learning incantations was the nature of wand-based when he added, "I'm sorry for the rant. I've was talking with Ragnok today and I wanted to ask you something and relay a message. The message is that when you want it, they have documentation on the three who are running the skim."

Amelia was frustrated and delighted. She replied, "That's wonderful news on two levels – first that they have the documentation, and by that I assume that you mean bank transfer records." Harry nodded.

"The frustrating aspect is while he very likely could be arrested over this scheme, he can't be replaced until the Wizengamot can start up again and business resumes."

Harry remarked, "That was my second question. Fudge and his toadies aside, is the Ministry running well enough and could it go another year or so as is?"

She acknowledged, "Well enough is a matter of perspective. There has been a hiring freeze on for a year now and by law, the department heads are severely limited in their ability to transfer employees from one department to another. We're not having to gear up to fight another war and I have the largest department. I can manage unless too many people leave. From a different perspective, Percy Weasley was the last employee hired which is good for him but bad for anyone who was applying and then had the job requisition frozen. The same would apply with salary adjustments and the like. You obviously asked for a reason."

"Sirius and I are holding off taking our respective seats as long as we can. We're interested in getting a high percentage of the vacant seats filled with much younger witches and wizards and Sirius has begun developing a short list of candidates. We're simply not ready. In the meanwhile, we're getting a lot of help."

His answer made perfect sense; especially the last sentence.. She replied, "I believe that we can manage for two years."

"Thank you."

"It was nice talking with you Harry. You'd better go find Susan. Dinner and a movie again?"

"I think so. It's Susan's week to pick the venue and the movie."

… - …

"Hi Susan. I missed you. You look great."

"Thanks. You clean up pretty good yourself."

"I have a question. If it's not a secret, where are we?"

Amelia looked on with a nagging concern over how poorly Harry had been brought up. She replied, "We live just outside Folkstone, not too far from Dover. Harry, have you ever been to the ocean?"

"No, not really. My uncle took us to a rock someplace for a night to hide from Dumbledore's Hogwarts acceptance letters."

Amelia said, "Susie, why don't you hold off on the latest James Bond movie for a week and take Harry to the Smoke House. Tell him how you met Hannah and went to primary together. You can go down to the beach and watch the sun set."

They did and had a wonderful time together, cuddling and the like, before moving onto other teenage stuff. They both went home with happy smiles on their faces.

… - …

Friday July 26

That Friday, Harry met with Professor Smith at Fortescue's at her request. He bought them both ice cream and when they had sat down asked, "How can I help you, Professor?"

"I was hoping that you could help me for a few hours, selecting the best ingredients that I need. Your ability to See is astonishing,"

"I'd be happy to help. What do you mean by best?"

"Two things really. For the younger students supply best primarily implies consistency. A second year isn't being asked to identify the most potent leaf; rather the correct variety. For the NEWT students, I'm asking for the most potent bundle; expecting that students can select which leaf would be best for their circumstance."

"How about cost?"

"As you know, the school is on a fixed budget. I'm not always looking for the cheapest; rather the best value."

The first items on the list were scarab beetles and wiggentree bark. In seconds, Harry found the bundles that met Professor Smith's criteria.

Harry helped her find a score of other ingredients and asked, "What's next on the list?"

"Unicorn Horn and Accrumantula Venom."

Harry didn't immediately say anything. They made their way to the unicorn horn bin. Harry was astounded to see that they were 4,000 galleons each for ones that were chipped and cracked. Honestly, they looked like castoffs. He asked, "How many do you need?"

She responded, "I couldn't possibly afford to buy more than one; ideally a small one as they're so expensive. It's too bad; they can be used in so many potions."

Harry remarked, "Hagrid has about a dozen really good ones in his hut. We could ask him for one or two if that would help. He'd be happy to help you. What's next?"

"Accrumantula venom."

Harry saw the same pricing issue and remarked, "There are about a thousand of them in the north end of the Forbidden Forest. If you want, we could find one and save a bunch of galleons."

She was beyond grateful for his help and advice. He'd saved her a third of her supply budget on those two items alone and told him so.

Harry replied, "Just don't mention the Accrumantula part to Hagrid. He kind of introduced them into the forest and sees them as some weird sort of pets. How much do you need?"

She replied, "Would one ounce be too much?"

"I'll see what I can do." An hour later, she had two horns and a quart of venom on her office table. He asked, "Is there anything else that you're looking for?

She raised her eyebrows in hope and asked, "A werewolf."

After being reassured that she wasn't looking for potion ingredients and not making any promises, he replied, "I'll check around. Have a good day, Professor Smith."

"Thank you. Thank you again." The remarkable teen had really helped her.

… - ….

Saturday July 27

The next morning, Harry and Hermione were first in line to register for their new classes at medical school. They were taking Embryology for their class and medical interviewing as their first clinical. Their class would be Tuesday and the clinical on Wednesdays.

As they were leaving, Hermione said, "I think interviewing will be a bit easier. I had the opportunity to observe Madam Pomfrey do that a dozen times when I was working with her last year."

"True, but she wasn't completing forms on a PC and the doctors at Empire won't be waving a wand at the patients."

She admitted that he had a point and he offered to buy them tea.

… - …

As Harry and Hermione were discussing embryology, Erika heard a soft knock on her door. She opened it to find a kind looking man who had obviously lived a hard life standing in the corridor. While he looked to be in his early fifties, she factored in the wear and tear and guessed them to be of a similar age – late 30s. While the staff living area wasn't off limits to visitors, the location wasn't advertised either.

She asked, "May I help you?"

The stranger replied, "Possibly. My name is Remus Lupin. A friend of mine, Harry Potter told me that you were looking for someone like me. Perhaps you would be more comfortable meeting in your office, Healer Smith."

She nodded and said, "Please."

Lupin replied, "If this isn't a convenient time, I could come back."

"No it's fine. I'll meet you there in ten minutes. Do you know where it is?"

"If it hasn't been moved since professor Snape taught here, I can find my way. I was on staff here a few years back."

"I believe it is the same room. Ten minutes." She softly closed the door and he walked to the dungeons.

Ten minutes later, she arrived, wearing her lab coat and carrying her leather doctor satchel. Remus noticed that she had re-brushed her hair.

She opened the door and said, "Please come in. Have a seat. Would you like some tea?"

"Please." An instant later, Tiki arrived, carrying a tea tray with four biscuits. Remus said, "Thank you Tiki."

Tiki gave a slight curtsey and replied, "You is welcome, Professor Lupin. Professor Smith, do you be needing anything else?"

"No, Tiki. Thank you." A moment later, she was gone.

To avoid embarrassment, Remus began, "I was bitten shortly after my fifth birthday in 1965. Fenrir Greyback had taken offense at my father for some unintended slight. Needless to say, my condition put a strain on my parents' marriage and health. By the time I finished at Hogwarts, they were both gone. In school, I was friends with Harry's parents."

She nodded for him to continue.

"After Harry's parents were killed in 1982, I moved farther into the nonmagical world as it was far easier for me to find several part-time positions than explain where I was each month. I reconnected with Harry several years back and in brief, that's my story."

"Thank you for coming. In short, I was gifted Professor Snape's research papers along with a request to look at them in hopes that he had done any research into Lycanthropy. It turns out that he had taken it quite a ways."

"Since you are more than familiar with the nonmagical world, his suggested course of treatment is very similar to chemotherapy which has been used successfully as a treatment in nonmagical cancer patients. In short, it is a low dose poison designed to kill certain cells within the patient's body, without killing the patient."

"And the side effects?"

"In your case, there is the likelihood of at least temporary sterilization. During the course of treatment, fever, nausea, lack of energy, depression and thoughts of suicide would be expected. If that wasn't enough, complete hair loss is almost a certainty."

Remus admitted, "I don't know the specifics of the chemo treatment. In my case, what is the expected duration of the treatment?"

"The full moon is this Sunday. The treatment would be three potions a day for 28 days; essentially until you fail the test for Lycanthropy, choose to discontinue the treatments or… are killed by them."

They sat in silence for a minute and she continued, "Based on my knowledge of chemistry, I modified the potion given for the first 14 days slightly. I'm optimistic that it would work but I freely admit that I didn't find any direct documentation from Professor Snape, nor have I tried it on a human patient. If I had to say, I'd estimate that minimally, at least in the short-term say 3-5 years, your condition would be in complete remission. A second set of treatments may or may not be needed at some time in the future."

"When would you want to start?"

"We can start Monday. Where do you live?"

"I'm staying with Harry and his Godfather in London. Harry can provide you with a two-way portkey, or the townhouse is connected by floo. I could come…"

"Mr. Lupin, it's my expectation that you will be bedridden for the duration of the treatment. It would be an accomplishment if you were able to feed yourself and use the bathroom. I will arrive at Mr. Black's home at 5:30AM on Monday. The potions will be administered at six AM, two and ten PM. You must eat at least two meals a day, ideally at ten in the morning and six PM."

"I will be there the first day all day and at noon each day after that. Additionally, I'll ask Harry to look in on you several times a day. What questions do you have?"

"How can I possibly repay you?"

She let a slight smile shine through and replied, "Don't die on me."

Surprisingly, the lycan laughed and replied, "Harry's father told me that once. His mother said that I was too stubborn to. She may have been right."

... - …

Monday July 29 – Day 1

When Erika arrived Monday morning at 5:30, she was surprised to find a group of people in the waiting room. Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, Flitwick, Dan, Emma, Neville, Susan, Hannah, Sprout, Tonks, Dobby, Winky, and Sirius were there.

Sirius said, "Good morning, Healer Smith. We've volunteered to sit with Remus and keep an eye on him at different times during the 28 days. What do you want us to look for?" She was delighted that Mr. Lupin had such a large and willing support group. Black handed her the shift schedule that they'd drawn up for the next 28 days

She said, "I'm glad that you are all here. Mr. Lupin will need all of the help that he can get. To answer your question, his blood pressure will need to be checked and recorded once each shift. He may need assistance eating. He'll need to stay hydrated. He'll definitely need assistance going to the toilet. I expect that he'll experience frequent nausea. He'll need someone to talk to. Books, radio, or newspaper would be helpful. He'll get substantially weaker as the 28 day treatment goes on."

She gave more specific instructions to Harry, Hermione and her parents when the others had wished Mooney well and left for the day. She covered what the expected parameters would be and what to do if he fell outside of them.

Remus was in his room. She gave him a quick exam and asked Harry to come in and use his sight. He'd had a bad transformation the night before; most likely due to the initial purging potion that he'd taken that morning.

She asked him a few questions, explained the procedures and finally asked, "Mr. Lupin, knowing the risks that have been explained to you, do you still want to try this experimental treatment?"

He looked into her powder blue eyes for a long moment and replied, "Yes, Healer Smith. I'm ready."

She handed him his first dose.

ooo ccc ooo

I'm having fun with the Erika Smith character. I envision her as 37, smart, honest, reasonably ambitious, unattached and at the moment and ethically conflicted. Unbeknownst to her, Sirius threw a bunch of money at her in an effort to help his friend. A part of Erika can't help but see the potential _eternal glory_ and monetary reward that could possibly come from developing a workable cure for lycanthropy.

The other part of her recognizes that in nonmagical medicine, human trials would only occur after extensive lab work. I'm going with the idea that Lycanthropy is a human-specific condition.

Like Poppy, she recognizes the value in the unique talents that Harry is developing.

There seem to be a lot of unintended consequences in wizarding legislation that was originally intended to disadvantage a specific group.

Karma?

Cheers

… - …

An omake related to birthday cakes from Red Phoenix Dragon

_Molly was in her kitchen still fuming at how she, Harry's appointed mother, and Ginny, Harry's appointed girlfriend, had been so terribly treated when they had taken Harry's personal birthday cake to the Bones residence. She had been careful enough to ensure that the cake was potion free as that would have gotten Arthur in trouble with his boss. But how could they have detected the Amortentia phial she was carrying. She only wanted to make sure that Harry fell in love with the right witch.  
Her special Weasley clock chimed to indicate that someone was arriving by floo. She glanced up to see if Arthur was returning home but his hand still showed that he was at the Ministry. She noticed that the special hand on the clock that she used to indicate if there were potions on the floo traveler was pointing in the wrong direction. She had been using that hand to indicate if Arthur's Amortentia level needed a boost. But today the hand was pointing to the potion known as Veritaserum, and her blood ran cold as only Arthur could give permission for someone else to use the floo from the Ministry.  
The large fireplace flared green flames and three witches that Molly certainly didn't want to see walked out. Madam Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE, with two of her best investigators, Connie Hammer and Anna Daily.  
Madam Bones saw the fear in the eyes of Molly Weasley and smiled. "Oh, good! So you know why we are here."  
"Dumbledore made me do it!" Molly cried out before she slapped her hands over her mouth.  
"Do what?" Madam Bones asked.  
Molly mumbled through her left hand as her right hand want for her wand.  
It didn't make it as she was stunned by three stunners from the three witches.  
Molly woke up to find herself tied to a kitchen chair with all of her potions and potion ingredients stacked on the table along with all the boxes of stuff Dumbledore had left her to use for the Greater Good. She noticed that Madam Bones was reading Dumbledore's personal diary and she didn't look too happy.  
"Oh, you're awake." Madam Bones said as Connie coughed to get her attention. "Did you really fail to take your daughter to be checked by a mind healer after she had been possessed?"  
"Albus said she would be fine by the end of the holidays." Molly explained as the three witches looked at her and marveled at her level of stupidity.  
"Was Dumbledore a mind healer?"  
"No, but."  
"Have you read his diary?"  
"No! That's personal!"  
"Pity. If you had read what he had allowed to happen to your brothers, Gideon and Fabian, you would have never let that monster anywhere near your family."  
"He sacrificed them?" A grieve stricken Molly wailed as she remembered what Albus had told her.  
"For the Greater Good, page 366."  
"NOOOO!" wailed Molly.  
_

crow

… - …


	9. Helping a Friend

Chapter Nine – Helping a Friend

Monday July 29 – Day 1

By noon, Lupin had stopped shivering, stopped vomiting, had used the toilet several times and was sleeping. As she would every day, Erika took several blood and saliva samples, marked, sealed them and stored them in a secure, chilled container. Having found that Harry had a study room with a high quality microscope capable of projecting images and taking photographs, she brought the samples upstairs to examine. All of Mr. Lupin's red blood cells clearly were mutated. They took several photos to document the progress. Dobby had the developed, printed photos back in an hour.

The purging potion that he'd taken yesterday had removed most of the material within his digestive tract. The potions for the first two weeks were designed to modify the stem cells within his bone marrow to produce normal red blood cells rather than the mutated ones which were causing the lycan symptoms.

An additional potion would be given for the last two weeks to cause the red blood cells to die at a much faster rate of ten days rather than the forty days which was average. Effectively it would attempt to purge the mutated cells from his system. This was far and away the riskiest part of the procedure, in that the patient would become very anemic, as his red blood cells were being killed at a much faster rate than they were being produced. His blood cell count would need to be closely monitored as he would become weaker and weaker each day. Effectively it was a race to see if all of the mutated cells would die first, or the patient.

… - …

Thursday July 31

As their summer tutoring sessions came to an end, Senior Healer Windwalker observed, "You have come very far, Harry Potter. You have good eyes for seeing things that others cannot. As you keep practicing with your surgical blade, you will soon be able to remove internal tumors without making an incision. See what you want and use the smallest flick. May it serve you well, Harry Potter."

Harry was beyond grateful and told her so. No other wizard in Britain had ever been gifted with such a blade.

She added, "I would like to see you again when you are ready to open your own clinic. I wish you much success and happiness."

"Thank you, Senior Healer Windwalker. I hope that I'll be worthy of your teachings and always use them to help those in need."

She nodded and vanished a moment later.

Harry felt extremely lucky to have had such skilled mentors.

… - …

Sunday August 4 – Day 7

Erika arrived at noon as usual. She looked at the schedule that was taped to Mr. Lupin's door. Fred Weasley had the morning shift, Hermione in the afternoon and Sirius had the night shift. She greeted Mr. Lupin and took the usual samples and brought them upstairs to examine.

Hermione set up the projection microscope while Harry and Erika prepared the slide samples.

As they looked at the blood sample together, Erika observed, "Mr. Lupin's bone marrow has begun producing non-mutated cells. As the cells normally live 40 days, we'll have a much better comparison next Sunday. This equipment is wonderful to use. You can take a photograph and make actual counts. With my scope, the best that I could do are estimates."

She continued, "Professor Snape hypothesized that after being exposed for 15 days, normal cells would begin to mutate and eventually affect the stem cells within the bone marrow."

Hermione replied, "That's why you'll add the potion to reduce the cell life to 10 days beginning next Sunday."

"Exactly."

… - …

Sunday August 11 – Day 14

The second Sunday Erika arrived at noon as usual. The schedule for the day read Flitwick in the morning, Harry for the afternoon and as usual, Sirius had volunteered to do the night watch. As she was taking the samples, she asked, "How are you today, Mr. Lupin?"

He replied, "Fantastic, thank you. And you?"

She noticed that his general appearance had improved. She replied, "I'm good, thank you for asking. You are looking healthy today." She gave him a small smile and added, "That said, your potion changes tomorrow and I expect that things will get worse before they get better. You will of course honor your promise and not die on me. Correct?"

Lupin looked her in the eyes, returned the smile and replied, "I'll do my best, Healer Smith."

A few minutes later, upstairs, Harry was looking through his microscope and commented, "I can see the difference between the young cells and the older ones."

Hermione and Erika both asked, "How?"

"Look on the rounded end. The older ones are a bit fuzzier." He found a particularly fuzzy one, put it on the projector and pointed, "There. See?"

They did. Harry took some more pictures.

… - …

Wednesday August 14

Five minutes into his first clinical – Interviewing patients, Harry knew that he would both ace the clinical and be successful at it throughout his life. Between the ability to use passive Legilimency on nonmagicals, he could Look at a patient and essentially see where it hurt.

His challenge was to ask the right open-ended question that would get the person to describe the problem so he would have a basis of asking follow-on questions and write-up justifiable notes.

Hermione also had an easy time for a different reason – she'd done it a dozen before and would have three times the practice as the other students due to her ongoing work with Madam Pomfrey.

As they sat having lunch, the morning clinical wasn't on their mind; rather their friend Mooney.

Harry remarked, "I'm worried that his red blood cell count will be too low before the mutant cells are completely gone."

Hermione replied, "What about a transfusion on or about day 25?"

"Healer Smith mentioned that Snape had considered the idea and rejected it, with the concern that the newly induced cells would have no immunity to the mutant cells and begin the cycle all over again. She also stated that he'd mentioned mutation required being exposed for 15 days straight, so his own research was either incomplete or poorly documented."

Hermione asked, "I think we'd want to look at the mutant count before accepting or rejecting a strategy. What do you think?"

Harry replied, "We have a fairly limited set of equipment here to work with. Maybe an oxygen inhaler would raise the effectiveness of the remaining cells."

"Probably but do we want to introduce another variable so late into the treatment plan? The extra oxygen might somehow fortify the mutant cells and the poison would just kill off the normal cells."

"First, do no harm."

"Exactly."

… - …

Sunday August 18 - Day 21

Dan was on duty when Erika arrived at noon to take the samples. Lupin was paler and obviously had trouble sitting up in the bed when she asked him to hold out his arm.

When Harry and Hermione helped examine the sample and took photographs to get a count. There was good news and bad news.

Harry said, "75 percent of the cells are normal."

Hermione compared the overall count to the one the week before. She commented, "The overall cell count is 80 percent of normal."

Erika observed, "I expect that he'll have trouble remaining conscious more than three or four more days. I doubt that he'd survive if his count got below 50 percent."

... - …

Wednesday August 21 – Day 24

Dan was trying his best to keep Remus awake. He tried walking him around the room, loud music, cold air blowing at him and other nonmedical stimulants. It was having little success.

The good news was that 98 percent of the cells were normal. The bad news was his overall cell count was just 60 percent of normal.

… - …

Friday August 23 – Day 26

In three samples, 100 percent of the cells were normal. On the fourth sample they found a single mutant cell.

Remus had slipped into a comma in the early afternoon.

Sirius wanted to discontinue the treatments. Remus had previously given Harry the final decision authority.

That evening, Harry Looked and Looked and could still find some mutant cells. He said, "We'll go 28 days. Hermione, we'll try your idea on Sunday." They'd discussed it with Erika and agreed that it would revive Lupin faster. Hermione's blood was a match and she donated a pint with the hope that it could be given Sunday.

The poisoned potion was placed in Lupin's stomach by means of a switching spell. His cell count was just 51 percent of normal.

… - …

Sunday August 25, - Day 28

The afternoon dose was the last one given. No mutant cells had been found since Friday. Hermione's blood was introduced into his system, via an IV.

An hour later his cell count was 54 percent of normal.

… - …

Monday – Day 29

Susan's blood was also a match and a pint of her blood was also introduced into Lupin's system.

His blood cell count was now at 75 percent of normal. No mutant cells were found. For the first time in 32 years, Remus the wolf did not transform with the full moon. Sadly, he wasn't awake to notice.

… - …

Wednesday August 31 – Day 31

Remus woke normally at 5AM.

Dan was sitting in the room reading a book on golf. Remus said, "We should play a round some time. I believe that Harry's grandfather had bought a course in the 60s." His voice was weak but after a meal, Dan was sure he'd be much stronger. Lupin asked, "Did I turn into the wolf?"

"No but you're being here at all required a bit of luck and some clever problem solving from the doctors in training."

Sirius walked by, heard the voices and remarked, "He's too stubborn to die. It's good to see you Mooney. I guess you'll need a new Marauder name."

Lupin croaked, "Mine is fine."

With help from Sirius and Harry, he sat outside and enjoyed the sunny afternoon.

… - …

Thursday Sept 1

As Harry and Hermione rode the train to the castle, they more or less forced themselves to remain silent as Ron yammered on about some inane thing, apparently called a Pygmy Puff from the twins shop, how Gryffindor was going to clobber Slytherin and the like. Ernie and Daphne had been named Head boy and girl.

Their mind was on anything but the Hogwarts social life.

As they neared Hogsmeade, Neville said, "We got the grow lights installed in Greenhouse 5. We planted the Mandrake seedlings yesterday."

… - …

As they were about to get off the train, Harry heard the familiar strains of "First years here, First years."

He said, "I'm going to go say hi to Hagrid. Go on without me." He walked over to greet his friend and noticed a pained expression on his face for a moment as he turned towards him.

"Harry. Good to see you." He noticed it again and Looked carefully at his large friend. He didn't like what he Saw.

Harry said, "Hagrid, could you do me a favor?"

"Course. What do you need?"

"Can you meet me at the hospital wing after dinner? I need to ask you about something."

"Sure. Gotta go now. First Years."

… - …

Harry was a few minutes ahead of Hagrid when he reached the hospital wing. Harry quickly explained his concern to Madam Pomfrey.

Hagrid came in and Pomfrey directed, "Hagrid, Take off your shirt and… "

Harry expanded and strengthened one of the beds together to make more room. A minute later Hagrid was on the bed, face up.

She gave him a scan and looked at Harry, who said, "Its on the right side of his liver about the size of your fist."

She nodded.

He said, "With your permission, Senior Healer Windwalker showed me how to remove those."

"Are you sure you can handle it?"

He nodded

"Do it."

Harry said, "Hagrid, Hold your breath and be still for a bit when I tell you. OK?

"OK," He took a big gulp.

"Now."

Harry Looked, knew what he wanted and gave the knife a flick. A second later the tumor was intact, in the bowl. There wasn't a scratch on his big friend.

"Breathe Hagrid."

"Don't get up for half an hour, Hagrid. Come to my office, Harry."

She asked, "Was that what you were expecting?"

"Yes but I didn't know it would be orange."

She examined it and said, "That's very elegant work. Outstanding job, Apprentice."

"Thank you, Master."

"Scamp."

He had successfully completed his first surgery.

… - …

Saturday September 3

At ten, Erika heard a soft knock on her door. She opened the door, saw him and said, "Mr. Lupin, I'd have come to see you at noon. How did you get here?"

"I hitched a ride with Harry's portkey. Shall we go to your office?"

"Please. I'll meet you there in ten minutes."

Remus noticed that she definitely had brushed her hair when she opened the door.

He handed her the envelope from Harry and Hermione and said, "They took ten samples from different locations this morning and only found normal cells. Hermione suggested having Madam Pomfrey administer a lycan test."

… - …

Twenty minutes later, "How? Who?"

Harry said, "Healer Smith."

Who said, "Hermione."

Who said, "Harry."

Erika said, "It's a long story."

Poppy responded, "Most of his are."

… - …

Poppy and Erika sat next to McGonagall Tuesday at dinner. McGonagall was lamenting the loss of her two best students. "They both showed such promise; Miss Granger especially. I was going to offer her an apprenticeship." She stopped short of muttering, _anyone could be a healer._

It wasn't the first time she'd heard those words. Poppy said, "Here's a thought for you; in the time we've heard you pining away for them tonight, Apprentice Potter performed a procedure that saved Hagrid's life. I doubt the poor man would have lasted another month and he spotted it while he was getting off the train while Hagrid was collecting the little ones. I couldn't have done a better job on my best day. I talked to the man yesterday. I hadn't noticed anything amiss."

Erika added, "I could say something similar about Apprentice Granger except for patient confidentiality. In my eyes, they're both where they need to be."

Poppy softened the blow. "She probably thought it was a useful skill to have for around the house but couldn't see how to turn it into a career. Perhaps the school should offer some career information during second year before they sign up for the wrong electives. Actually, discussions about careers should be given every year."

Erika added, "You could bring those things up at your monthly house meetings."

McGonagall was silent. She hadn't held a monthly house meeting in a decade. She'd been too busy doing half of Albus' job for him to do her own properly.

… - …

Hermione was in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey, discussing the second year of her tutoring. Poppy said, "This year we'll look at prenatal, obstetrics and pediatrics. What days or evenings are you available?"

"Thursday and Friday evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday."

"The prenatal will be easy to schedule within those confines. I was thinking of four deliveries. If you're at school when the girls come in for delivery, you can miss class for the day, if necessary. If you're gone, I'll take care of them myself."

Pomfrey added, "Cynthia Steele lives in the village. She's seven week's pregnant. I'll schedule her to come in this Saturday morning and give you the exact time. I'll also let Head Healer Alice Crabtree at St. Mungo's know that we've a healer-in-training who is ready to accept those patients. She'll be delighted."

"Thank you."

…. - …

Sunday Sept 23 – two months

After everyone had received their beverage order at The Flying Horse, Sirius declared, "Congratulations, Healer Smith. You have a cure for Lycanthropy."

Erika put her glass down, took a calming breath and declared, "Mr. Black, we're nowhere near having a _cure_. We currently have a treatment that has lasted one month so far and somehow managed to not kill the patient."

She took a sip from her water glass and continued, "That's a start, Mr. Black and I am honestly delighted that you still have your friend but it's barely a defined treatment at this point. That's nowhere near being a classified as a cure."

The old impetuousness arose in Sirius, who asked, "What do you mean?"

"The ingredients are ridiculously expensive. Ignoring the ingredients for a moment, effectively you employed five physicians for a month or more and just happened to have house space available at what is effectively a well-equipped clinic laboratory and office. On top of that, you had another handful of volunteers. When most people hear the word cure, they envision, "Take this and you'll be better overnight."

Attempting to control her emotions, she asked, "Tell me, Mr. Black, how long would Mr. Lupin need to remain virus free before you would consider the procedure a success?" She wanted her name on a cure so badly, she could taste it.

Sirius had never even considered the possibility that his friend might revert back to Mooney. He responded, "I don't know, Healer."

She softened her voice a bit and said, "Let's arbitrarily draw a line in the sand at five years. At this point, we have an experimental treatment that has eliminated one symptom of lycanthropy for one month. Honestly Mr. Black, I don't even know what all of the lycan symptoms are. Mr. Lupin may see a rabbit in the back garden and unconsciously lick his lips for the rest of his life. We simply don't know yet."

She continued, "Let's be optimistic and assume that Mr. Lupin will still be alive and have no major symptoms at the five year mark. That's a milestone; a gigantic milestone. We'd all agree that that would be wonderful news for Mr. Lupin."

Sirius nodded.

"Is it a cure if half the people who start the treatment die before day 28?"

"I don't know." He'd never considered the situation beyond his friend.

"That's a bit subjective but a real possibility if we ever took this to clinical trials. I'm fairly certain that Mr. Lupin would have died if we hadn't used apprentice Granger's transfusion suggestion and she and Miss Bones hadn't made perfectly matching donations."

A moment later, she asked, "Is it a cure if only one in fifty Weres could possibly afford it?"

"For that one, yes. I see your point on the others."

"Good. A significant milestone that deserves celebrating has been reached. Cheers."

Hermione asked, "Healer Smith, what made the potion ingredients so expensive?"

She replied, "The basilisk venom was 3/4th of the cost."

"How much did you use?"

"Two drops per dose for the last 14 days."

"There's a bit more than 58,000 drops per gallon."

She gave a meaningful look to Harry who admitted, "I've a bit more than two gallons of the stuff."

It was Erika's turn. "How? Where?"

"It's a long story."

"I've heard that yours always are."

Harry asked, "I don't even know how to ask the question; how many Weres are there in the British Isles?"

Remus replied, "The numbers are fluid because people move. I'd estimate 36-50 in Britain, half of which are in Cork."

Erika asked, "Harry, I assume that DMLE Director Bones is Miss Bone's parent?"

"Her aunt, Amelia Bones. Would you like to talk with her some time?"

"I think so. We should get an opinion before thinking too hard about clinicals next summer."

… - …

That evening, it was a cloudless evening and the full moon was shining. Sirius and his friend Remus were sitting on the deck at a quiet oceanfront pub in Brighton listening to the waves. Sirius had cast a mild muggle-repelling charm on the two tables nearest them so they wouldn't be bothered. Lupin lamented, "I'm 37 years old. I don't remember being outside watching the moon."

"So find a bird and tell her that you're into classic books and moonlight strolls."

"Arseface."

"Seriously; you have the opportunity to look ahead and ask yourself what you want to do with your life and who you want in it, rather than worry about who is going to find out this or that." As he was saying the words, he thought about Harry, who seemingly had considered it and acted upon his dreams. He also realized that he was in the same situation and hadn't done a thing. Then he realized that wasn't exactly true; he'd helped his friend.

"I'd like to teach at Hogwarts."

"What's stopping you? Go talk with Augusta Longbottom. The defense instructor is on loan from the DMLE – same with Marchbanks. Are your sure that's what you want to do? You could start a business and be a wealthy man."

"Compared to half of the world, I _am_ a wealthy man. I always felt happiest there."

"Then go for it."

"What about you?"

"I'd like to build a boat and spend some time on the water."

"Really? I don't remember you mentioning either before."

"It's something that kept my mind going while I was in Azkaban. I had a lot of time to think about it"

"So sign up for some woodworking and metalworking classes."

"I think I will."

… -…

Christmas 1997

Grimmauld place had never seen such decorations. Sirius had most of the rest of the house wired and it seemed as every outlet had been used for electric Christmas lights. There were decorated trees, wreaths, miniature villages, reindeer and the like.

Amelia, Susan, the Grangers, Remus, Erika and Poppy had arrived, had their coats taken, been given a beverage and were in the large living room by a warm fire. Sirius said, "Before we put away all business for the night, Amelia, we're looking for a personal opinion."

"Go ahead."

Sirius showed her the Lycan tests that had been run on Remus for July which was positive and the monthly tests of August through December, which were all negative.

She read them again to be certain that she hadn't made a mistake and asked, "How is this possible?"

Poppy simply said, "Everyone else in this room had a part in it. The issue at hand is these people devised a 28 day treatment regime with a series of some 64 potions administered. At this point, we're not calling it a cure; rather a treatment based on a sample of one with no relapses over the last five months. So far, so good?"

Amelia replied, "I'm following you so far."

Poppy continued, "Erika, the apprentices and the Grangers are in agreement that there is a significant risk of death during the 28 day treatment."

Amelia asked, "Define significant."

"The team originally estimated a 50 percent chance of death for Mr. Lupin's treatment during or immediately after the 28 days. Mr. Lupin was specifically aware of the risks, signed the appropriate consent forms and we remain cautiously optimistic for continued health for him."

Amelia asked, "What are your next steps?"

Erika replied, "Logically we would begin clinical trials. We have managed to keep news of the treatment quiet but that is likely to change in the coming months."

"What are your concerns?"

"Ministry interference."

She gave a small laugh and replied, "That's a given. What specifically concerns you?"

Erika replied, "The costs."

"The treatment being forced on people," added Sirius.

"The perception that an experimental treatment is, in fact, a cure," added Poppy.

"The likelihood that Fudge will try to put a lid on the news or dismiss the results as fiction if they don't suit his mood," admitted Remus.

"The nature of the treatment itself," admitted Hermione.

Erika clarified Hermione's statement. "The nature of the treatment has two phases. The first forces the body to stop producing mutated cells and return to producing normal cells again. The second phase involves killing the mutated cells at a faster rate than the normal cells. This is done to prevent the mutated cells from attacking and mutating the newly created normal cells."

Amelia asked, "And if the mutated cells are stubborn and refuse to die on schedule, what are your options?"

Harry answered, "Discontinue the treatment, which will guarantee that the patient remains infected."

Dan added, "Continue the treatment, hoping that the mutated cells all die before the patient."

Hermione added, "Or use blood transfusions, as we did with Remus."

_Blood – the 800 pound gorilla in the room._ Amelia looked at Emma and asked, "What is your opinion?"

She replied, "Blood transfusions are completely routine in nonmagical surgeries. My personal opinion is that the donors are volunteers and perspective patients should be rejected for treatment, if they refused transfusion authorization. The transfusions are a necessary step in the last days of the process."

Erika saw Amelia looking at Hermione and Harry and stated, "The transfusions were their idea and it is my opinion that without them, Mr. Lupin wouldn't be here tonight."

Amelia summarized, "Legally the transfusion isn't specifically prohibited. It's a transaction between consenting adults and since the Wizengamot is inactive, it couldn't be prohibited in the short term. With transfusions, what is your guess as to the death rate among perspective patients while in the 28 day treatment phase?"

Dan replied, "10 percent."

Erika replied, "Less than 30 percent."

"Why the difference?"

Erika replied, "Variation in the initial condition of the patients. Mr. Lupin represented the best possible case."

Dan admitted, "I hadn't considered that. I defer to Dr. Smith's estimate unless the weaker patients were rejected during initial screening."

Ericka added, "In which case, I concur with Dr. Granger's estimate."

Amelia asked, "Splitting the difference at 20 percent and assuming that you and your team make the collective decision to conduct a clinical test, I would suggest offering a second set immediately after. Is there a reason not to call every treatment an experimental clinical trial?"

Poppy replied, "The most common difference is the ability to recover the significant costs – in other words, the ability to charge patients."

Amelia knew better than to make promises before knowing the details. She said nothing.

Dan took over. "In the nonmagical world, experimental treatments aren't covered by NHS and honestly, this is as deep into the realm of experimental as I could imagine. The short of it is, Mr. Black spent a considerable amount of money obtaining the original research notes that this treatment is based upon. Dr. Smith picked up the concept and ran them through the development phase. In my conversations, Mr. Black spent well over 150,000 galleons in direct costs to treat his lifelong friend."

Poppy stated, "Our collective estimate is that the cost for treating the next patient would be 70,000 galleons." She gave Harry _the_ _look_, silently telling him not to refute her numbers.

Amelia immediately understood the situation. Given the opportunity, Barty Crouch Sr. would have ordered the Hitwizards to exterminate the unfortunates before he'd have spent 100 galleons trying to save anyone. Fudge wasn't much better, unless public opinion forced his hand. St. Mungo's wouldn't commit five healers for a month per patient on an ongoing basis on top of the cost for the potions.

She summarized, saying, "The five of you spent a pile of time and money on behalf of a friend, cobbled together an unsustainably expensive, labor intensive treatment that shows promise and may eventually cure a disease that no one wants to talk about."

Emma admitted, "The nonmagical medical field has a term for these conditions – orphan diseases. They're ultra-rare diseases that typically have extensive, expensive treatments that are never financially feasible to develop typical treatments for. Taking Mr. Lupin's estimate of 36 or so Weres in Britain and knowing that Britain has a bit less than one percent of the world's population would put the total werewolf population at about 5,000 or less. Ignore the logistics for a moment and assume that half of that group would be both well enough and willing to undergo the treatment. You wouldn't open a hospital, hire and train a staff for such a low volume unless you were getting full price for each patient treated."

Susan observed, "We're just going around in circles on this. Let's open presents."

At some level, everyone was relieved. Dobby and Winky passed fresh beverages around. Gifts, hugs (and more) were exchanged. Harry glanced at Sirius and Remus and noticed that Remus was sitting by Professor Smith.

ooo ccc ooo

There are too many tales where the inspired potioneer whips together a concoction based on mud, spit, a worm, a silver coin and some pocket lint to arrive at a world-class potion that cures all in about 20 minutes. The problem of orphan diseases and orphan drugs is real and there are no simple answers.

Harry, Lupin and Sirius are each in a position that they would have had a hard time envisioning two years ago – they actually have a future. None of the three of them need have a concern about where their next meal is coming from or who is out to get them. That's a big change to wrap their respective minds around.

Cheers to you,

Crow

… - …


	10. Clinical Trials

Chapter Ten – Clinical Trials

March 18 1998 was a day that Harry would never forget.

Harry got home late from medical school that night. Sirius asked, "How was school?"

"Fantastic. I got to help deliver a baby this morning… A baby! She was… perfect."

"Wow. Congratulations. What did Hermione think?"

Harry kind of muttered, "She's already delivered four, mostly by herself, working with Healer Pomfrey."

"You'll get your chances. Good work, Harry. How was the mom?"

Harry admitted, "The other half of the class got to tend to her."

"How was the baby?"

"Her Apgar score was 8. That's a healthy baby. She wasn't crying and wasn't completely pink at first. I saw her a couple hours later. Wow."

As Sirius opened them each a butterbeer, Harry admitted, "It was a good day."

…- …

June 25, 1998

It was the afternoon of the leaving feast. The heads of house were in the staff room discussing what to say. Naturally Harry's name came up.

Sprout exclaimed, "There isn't a living soul in this room who hasn't positively benefitted from Harry Potter. He's saved us – a lot. Malicious spirits, giant snakes, dementors..."

"Pomona, he's done a lot more than that. He doesn't want that kind of attention. If you want to mention something, mention that in the course of his training to be a healer, he absolutely saved the life of our own Rubeus Hagrid. Mention that he along with Apprentice Granger assisted Healer Smith in treating Professor Lupin."

"Filius, what aren't you telling us?"

I promised not to mention it. He saved us all again – big time. I saw it with my own eyes. Please let it go."

And so, against the majority's better judgement, there were no special awards given and the finishing class of 1998 left quietly.

… - …

June 26

As they boarded the train and found a coach, Hermione realized that she had been added to the comparatively short list of students who could see thestrals. In her case, she was certain that it was due to medical school. She wondered about her friend.

After the train began moving Neville said, "Master Sprout and I tried the grow lights in Mandrakes in greenhouse five. They matured in 18 weeks vs 36 weeks! Actually it was just over 16 weeks but we kept them planted for another ten days to be certain. We also grew some Dirigible Plums and Gillyweed over the winter, which would never have been possible without the lights. Master Sprout wants me to write up the results and she'll help me with my Masters paper next winter. "We're going to Italy next week to do some shopping. How about you, Susan?"

"Auntie found the funding to start a two-year Auror training class beginning in August. I applied and I got in. I'm really happy to get the chance to try it. Ron, what about you?"

"I can't believe it. I was offered a tryout with the Cannons! They must have been watching my last game. Winsloe couldn't get the quaffle near the hoops. I was brilliant."

Susan was going to point out that Annie Winsloe was a second year, playing her first game but nodded and said, "Congratulations."

Ron finally asked, "What about you, Harry? Wanna help me practice for my tryout? Still going to that medical school?"

Harry replied, "Not until mid-August. We're starting a clinical trial next week. I'll be busy all summer."

"Sounds boring. I gotta see what Lavender is doing."

Susan made eye contact with Hermione. More like what color (if any) her knickers were.

Harry looked at Susan and asked, "Friday night?"

"I wouldn't miss it. Your pick?" Susan made eye contact with Harry then glanced at Hermione. Harry gave a slight nod and Susan asked, "Hermione, would you like to go out for dinner and a movie with us this Friday?"

"I don't want to intrude… Are you sure?"

"Positive. We'll meet at your house at five."

"Thanks. I'd like that."

"Harry, I'll floo to the townhouse at half four. We can apparate to her house from there."

"Perfect. Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up?"

"Not unless you need to talk to Auntie for anything." When he shook his head she replied, "I'll see you Friday."

… - …

Remus did apply to return to Hogwarts. There were two positions open – the defense job that had been covered by DMLE Investigator Connie Hammer, who had come back for a second time after Anna Daily left after a year. Anna had enjoyed the assignment much less-so than Connie had and had turned down the opportunity to return for a second deployment at the school. Grishielda Marchbanks was also leaving after three years. She'd rewritten the course outline through the OWL level, leaving the NEWT exam and coursework to her successor.

Outgoing Headmaster, Augusta Longbottom had been asked to do the interviewing and hiring for the year as the board had not yet determined who would be chosen for headmaster for the next term. The consensus of the board had been that the headmaster role should be that of selecting and coaching staff as necessary and administrating the school. As such, it was considered a full-time job, or specifically the candidate could have no other outside employment. There would be no more Dumbledore type heads holding what amounted to three full-time jobs and failing at all three.

As the students were riding the train home, Augusta was giving Remus Lupin what amounted to a courtesy interview, primarily out of respect for his previous employment as a Defense professor but also from high recommendation from Neville. Because of his condition, he would be an overly controversial hire, though the History position offered more flexibility.

Remus arrived at one, as scheduled. She noticed that his appearance and dress was much better than what she had been expecting. After initial pleasantries, Remus handed her the medical statement stating that he had been lycan-free for the last ten months.

"Amazing. How?"

"A team of five medical professionals developed a treatment regime last summer. While still highly experimental, it was completely successful in my case."

"Congratulations," she said sincerely. "When the news of this is eventually released, there will be many people who will be very happy for you. What are you currently doing for employment?"

"I'm reviewing academic texts at a university bookstore."

"Do you have a Mastery in Defense?"

"I do. I have to say, while I would accept either position, if offered, the History position interests me much more – especially considering the work that Professor Marchbanks did through year five."

"You are aware of the pay rate for a second year Professor?"

"I am." Honestly, Lupin didn't have a clue, nor a care about the pay. James and Lily left him more than he would ever spend."

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, Professor Lupin. I'm certain that the History course will continue to move ahead with your guidance. Several students conditionally signed up for year-six history. The booklist letter will also state that the course is available for year six students, so it is possible that your sixth-year class may be larger than a handful of students. The board will happily accept a course outline by August 15. You may move into the castle anytime that you wish, though your position does not specifically require residency."

"Thank you."

"Regarding your former condition, my recommendation is to state that you were treated and are Lycan-free at the opening feast. That will certainly make the news public but should also ward off a dozen unkind, inappropriate howlers."

"I agree. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come back to Hogwarts."

… - …

Susan and Harry had apparated to Brighton before. As such the two of them side-alonged Hermione from her backyard. They ended up by the Brighton pier with no pieces missing. Harry asked, "Where to?"

Susan replied, "I'd like to try Chamuyo. It's an Argentine steakhouse. Either that or Riddle & Finns?"

Harry immediately passed on anything named Riddle. He looked at Hermione for a second, saw no expressed opinion and replied, "The steakhouse sounds great. Is it far from the movie?"

"No. They're just a few streets over. She pointed to a school as they were walking and said, "That's where Hannah and I went to primary."

Hermione thought for a moment and said, I thought you live in Folkstone? How…?

"When my parents were killed, Auntie took me in but she was pretty involved in her work. The Abbots were good friends of my parents and I had their home listed as my address for school. We've been friends since we were in nappies."

Their dinner was fantastic and the server didn't hover. Neither complained when Harry paid the bill. They saw the movie, _The Wedding Singer_ and enjoyed it. On the walk back to the pier, Hermione thought that it would be nice to have a boyfriend of her own. She also thought it was nice going out to dinner and a movie with someone other than her parents. Those were new thoughts for her.

… - …

Friday June 26 – Day minus 4

Earlier that day, while Lupin was interviewing for his new position, Erika, Poppy and the Grangers were reading through the Lycan treatment applications.

Emma pointed out, "No one is more deserving than the next. In my opinion, the patients with the highest probability to survive the treatment should be the ones treated first. Even though he is older at 76, George McGinty has enough relatives to ensure two units of blood as an exact match. Oliver Wood and those two sisters Lisa and Kelly Wallace are safe choices. They're in their early 20s and they can manage three units of blood donated each, as can Wood."

"Kelly has no magic and her sister Lisa is a firstborn," observed Erika.

Dan was ready for a _discussion_. It never came.

Erika added, "My point was, "They'll have interesting similarities and differences from a research perspective."

Calmer than he was, Dan added, "The other two applicants appear to currently be in fair to poor health. I concur. These four represent the best picks for our situation."

Erika said, "I'll owl them to come in on Sunday morning and to be prepared for a one month stay."

Emma asked, "What about the costs?"

"Mr. Black is covering it, along with a G20,000 stipend for each of us."

Emma thought to herself, '_I suppose he's funding a second set of treatments to legitimize the treatment so people would believe that Remus was actually lycan-free.'_

… - …

Sunday June 28 – Day minus 2

They had been unable to find a third exact type match donor for George, but their pool of available donors was very small. Hermione suggested having his son donate three weeks in advance as he might be needed for an emergency second donation. They didn't want to introduce non-magical blood as yet another variable.

The final meeting held two days before the purging potion was upbeat. "Lisa, Kelly, this is my friend Harry Potter, or Healer Potter, or…" Wood was grateful to see a familiar face and was desperately clinging onto the lifeline that had been thrown to them.

"Just Harry is fine. Hermione and I will be assisting Healer Smith, who you have met. Sir, we haven't met, though Mr. Lupin has told us about you. I'm Harry and this is Hermione. How are you feeling today?"

McGinty replied, "Fine… well, nervous as can be. The two days before transformation are rough; always have been. I've been doing them for forty years."

They showed them where their rooms would be and noticed that the sign outside their doors hand their names and were colored blue, green, pink and yellow. Erika indicated that the color coding made it much easier to identify lab samples, microscope slides and the like. She showed them the photos of Mr. Lupin's cells on the various days, explaining mutated vs. normal cells, cell count and the like. She was exceptionally patient answering their questions.

Oliver took Harry aside and asked, "Is anyone going to find out about this?"

Harry responded, "Not likely. Not from us. Are those two girls friends of yours"

"That would be putting too much to it. They're a pair of sisters that I met in Paris. We've been pretty close since March when…"

"The three of you were attacked. I assume that you didn't tell anyone?"

"No. I'd have been off the team in ten seconds if they knew. It was easy enough to say I was injured and have the backup guy play. Will this really work?"

"It will if the treatment itself doesn't kill you. Don't die on us. Deal?" Even as a second year med-student, Harry projected a calming influence that few could match.

"Deal. Thanks Harry."

… - …

Wednesday July 1 – Day 1

Hermione admitted to herself that cleaning up after patients for a ten hour shift was more like work and less of an adventure than it had been a year prior. She'd gotten quite adept with vanishing spells in her seventh year at Hogwarts, working with Healer Pomfrey.

There was also the reality that cleaning up after four patients felt like forty times the work as it had previously as they had been only occasionally working a shorter shift. Fortunately Dobby was bringing all of the meals and taking all of the trays.

… - …

Thursday July 18 – Day 18

George McGinty was producing fewer red blood cells than the others. Any experienced lab technician could have told them that. Unfortunately the Healers had little experience with blood cell counts and the medical students hadn't yet had direct experience in that area. His count was ten percent lower than Lupin's had been on a day to day basis.

The team of five had met for an hour to discuss the issue.

"The smart thing to do would be to pull him from the program to begin with and establish a base line cell count as part of the initial program qualification," observed Emma. She had no opinion about McGinty either way; rather her priority was that the teens not lose a patient.

Erika had her own opinion and the final decision was hers but she wanted everyone to have a voice in the matter.

Hermione pressed her point. "Mr. McGinty has a blood type AB; a universal recipient. My belief is that he'll need to start on transfusions on day 21 or 22."

Harry observed, "The chances that the donor cells might mutate increase every day that they're exposed to mutant cells. What does blood replenishing potion really do?

Old-Hermione automatically fired off, "It stimulates red cell production while acting as a plasma. We agreed to not use it on any of the patients."

"Not McGinty; his sons. If he can make it to day 24 or 25, he could probably get five or six units of blood that exactly match."

New-Hermione admitted to herself that her friend had come up with a very workable idea on the fly. She said, "If he had enough transfusable blood available, we could keep him on the potion an extra day, if necessary. Healer Smith, what's your opinion?"

"My original thought was to show Mr. McGinty the detail and let him make his own decision. My decision is to explain the enhanced transfusion option, give him time to discuss it with his family and offer him the option of dropping out now or going through with your modified transfusion scheme, knowing that his chances of a relapse will be slightly higher than for the other patients. I'm convinced that we can keep him alive – with or without lycanthropy remains to be seen."

When they had finished their discussion, they explained his unique situation to him and he stated that he wanted to continue. His sons both agreed to take doses of the blood replenishing potion so they would each be able to donate more blood."

… - …

Day 25

McGinty fell into unconsciousness; two days later than Hermione had estimated. He was given one unit of blood. An hour later, his adjusted cell count was back to 55 percent of what Lupin's had originally been. The mutated cells were two percent of the total.

… - …l

Day 27

McGinty had been given one unit of blood per day for the last three days. His adjusted cell count remained at 55 percent and the mutated count was one percent of the total. The other three patients had each been given one unit of blood today and had zero counts for mutated cells.

… - …

Day 28

The other three patients were sitting in bed, resting peacefully. McGinty had been given one unit of blood. Five blood samples were taken. Three were clean while two found a single mutant cell each. No one transformed that night.

… - …

Day 29

Four blood samples were taken on McGinty. They all came back clean. His last two units of blood were administered. He hadn't regained consciousness yet but his vital signs were good and his cell counts were improving hourly.

… - …

Day 30

"You didn't give up on me. Most would have." McGinty woke up feeling better than he had in years.

Erika pointed out, "Stubbornness and tenacity are two sides of the same coin. The two apprentice healers kept coming up with ideas that are making the process better and pulled you through. Congratulations Mr. McGinty. You didn't transform or show any outward sign of Lycanthropy this week. I believe that the rest of your life will be much improved for you."

That evening, the four patients who started treatment together posed for a picture together with the five medical professionals, enjoyed a dinner together and the patients went to their own homes.

When they got home Dan mentioned, "I'm concerned about the idea of starting yet another trial anytime soon. Admittedly, the gold was great; more than enough to pay for substitute help and cover our normal draw out of my portion alone. That's not it. In basic training, one of the instructors mentioned that the surest way of getting hurt is to be standing next to the guy who's been dreaming about winning medals. Smith has done a great thing; I'll never argue that point but… She's taking a lot of risks without much of a safety net."

Emma added, "Honestly, of the pool of 36, half probably wouldn't accept the treatment, given the risk. Better than half of the others would fail the physical and none of the others could afford it."

"True. I just don't want the kids to lose a patient while she's got her eye on a shiny brass ring."

"We'll say something the next time we meet."

… - …

July 31

Amelia was kind enough to host a birthday party for Harry. He'd invited the same crew as the year before. They also added Erika and Poppy to the list.

After most of the birthday guests had left. Erika gathered the Lycan-five to a corner and started the "Next Steps" discussion. After listening to her and the others for a while, Harry suggested, "We've taken the treatment through the proof of concept stage. I think we should hand it off to the ICF (International Confederation of Wizards) or the NHS." (National Health System)

Somewhat startled at what she initially saw as a slap in the face, Erika asked, "Why would you possibly suggest that. We're so close?"

Harry replied, "_To_ _what?_ None of the seven patients that we're met with, including Remus could have afforded the treatment on their own. From what Remus had told us, most Weres are poor and half are homeless. You can't possibly expect Sirius to fund these treatments forever. In all likelihood, you'll get your own chocolate frog card but I can tell you from experience, they don't mean that much. I believe that the best thing to do is to let the NHS handle it."

"What about the statute of secrecy?" She was totally surprised at his words.

"We've clear and incontrovertible evidence that nonmagical humans can be infected just the same as magical humans. Yes, their metabolism is a bit different and they frequently die from the initial bite within a week but the first phase of the treatment might help with that. We could always quietly substitute the blood that would be given to any magical patients who are treated. I don't think that we currently have the facility or the mandate to take this any wider than we have."

Seeing as she hadn't directly contradicted him and no one else looked to be stepping in, he continued. "The only stumbling block that I can see is the actual formula itself with respect to the statute of secrecy. Is the phase-one mixture a medicine or a potion?" He personally hadn't seen it.

She admitted, "A medicine."

"And phase-two?"

"A medicine."

As calmly as he could he said, "Healer, the treatment that you have developed and refined is utterly fantastic and certainly worthy of an Order of Merlin award when the Wizengamot resumes. Based on the qualified advice that I sought out and received, the flat-out fact of the matter is that the only ways of successfully monetizing the treatment of werewolves are to sell the potion itself, or sell the basilisk venom. By your own words, a cure is more valuable than a treatment. We won't know if we have one for a few more years. I'm sorry to appear to be pulling the rug out from underneath you. I mean that." He chose not to mention that the only other way to make any serious money from it would be to have a group of billionaires get infected then offer a treatment.

Harry concluded saying, "It's not out of the question that the World Health Organization already has a cure and the wizarding world is either too isolated or too pig-headed to believe it."

Dan and Emma looked at each other for a moment and said, "We agree." They didn't see the need to throw more fuel on the fire. It appeared to be burning pretty hot as it was.

Hermione asked, "How would we tell the right agencies? None of us have the credentials to be practicing nonmagical surgery yet and this falls pretty far outside the realm of dental surgery. You can't just call the Queen. We need a contact."

Harry thought, _Ragnok_ _or Amelia_?

… - …

Amelia chose not to bring the treatment up to Fudge or ask for an appointment with the PM. Ragnok did have the appropriate contacts and two days later, the Lycan-five had a private meeting with the minister of health. She was aware of Lycanthropy, at least in concept and gave them a polite fifteen minute meeting. Essentially her perception was that they had a solution for something that statistically wasn't a problem. She accepted their summary information and handed it off to an assistant to be filed. They were disappointed but not surprised.

That was the end of the Lycan issue for several years.

… - …

August 16, 1998

Poppy met with Erika to discuss Harry's upcoming apprenticeship. Erika suggested, "You might have him fill out a survey to find the gaps. I expect that he'll have had more theoretical than your previous apprentices?"

"Heavens yes. If Hermione was any sort of measurement to go by, he'll be miles ahead of most. It took me years to learn some of the concepts that she knew by her second year."

"Erika admitted, He's much better at problem solving than I was anywhere near that age – maybe even today. He also has fantastic bedside manner. He projects a calming confidence. He just needs experience to back it up. Where did you start with Hermione?"

"Vascular and nerve repair. In second semester we went to Orthopedics starting with bones. Second year we did obstetrics and pediatrics. She delivered four babies – one was an at-risk case. She saw a dozen infants for a year and performed two simple surgeries."

She reflected for a moment as admitted, "with his Sight abilities, he'll be highly skilled in diagnostics, I saw him remove a tumor that was on Hagrid's liver without making an incision. His entire procedure didn't take five minutes. He found it just by chatting with him. I expect that his surgical skill will be second to none in a few years."

"I'd suggest offering him as much hands-on practice as possible."

"I agree. How much time will he be spending here a week?"

"Hermione was here Friday afternoons and weekends. I'll ask him. What did you have in mind?"

Erika declared, "Poppy, he's gorgeous. I expect every fourth year and older girl to be stopping by for an exam for some perceived ailment when word gets around that he's seeing patients – make that third year. It won't do to have three teenagers stopping by if he's attempting to perform an actual procedure – especially one that needs to be supervised."

Pomfrey said, "I admit, he's a handsome young man. My perspective is always swayed a bit if I've changed someone's nappies. On the other hand, he is who he is and those young women will probably become his lifelong clients. Who am I to shoo them away?"

"Maybe you'll want to discuss procedures on Fridays, perform them on Saturdays and have open hours on Sundays for exams."

"That's a good idea. I'll floo him and discuss it with him. Thanks Erika."

… - …

While Poppy was making plans Ragnok and the Account Managers were reviewing their own.

Grimreaper reported, The Selwyn and Yaxley estates are ready to be processed. We will collect 20 percent with the remainder to go to the Ministry after the assets are sold. The Yaxley property can be sold at a significant discount to Harry Potter to dispose of. There are no significant assets in the Selwyn estate."

Rockcrusher reported, "The crouch estate proved to be very interesting. Bartemius Senior's Will stated that the assets were to go to his wife then his son, Bartemius Junior. His wife proceeded him in death by several years. To the Ministry's belief, Junior died in Azkaban and his wife died shortly after. In fact, Senior faked his wife's death. Senior never changed his Will. Senior preceded Junior by several months. The Ministry will certainly try to have the estate processed according Senior's Will. Junior inherited the entirety of the estate and named the Malfoy estate as the beneficiary. One third will go to Sirius Black, we will get 20 percent and the rest will go to the Ministry."

Ragnok reviewed the reports and observed, "The Flint and Macnair estates had similar clauses, as did the Nott estate. The Dark One must have commanded that they put those clauses into their Wills, ignoring their mates and transferring a third to the Malfoy estate.

Barchoke observed, "Unless Lucius was more adept at the Imperius curse than he let on to people? Obviously he was planning on outliving all of his associates. Has Harry Potter mentioned taking up his Wizengamot seat yet?"

Ragnok replied, "I believe that he and Black will take their seats 22 months from now. Their first order of business should be to nominate Wizengamot seatholders who are friendly to their cause. They will need our help in the coming year."

Grimreaper asked, "What of the Umbridge woman?"

Ragnok replied, "Grimreaper, look into that one. Investigate any vault transfers. I expect that she had been hiding her gold somewhere other than in our vaults. When her estate is dispositioned be certain that Harry purchases any real estate at a greatly discounted price. He may find some coins hidden in the walls."

… - …

August 19

Harry finished writing down his notes after the class had ended. They had medical school this semester on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This time they were taking Physical Diagnosis, Pediatrics and Pharmacology.

_*With the patient sitting, examine the patient closely – literally from head to toe in order to form impressions for your later written assessment. Note characteristics such as apparent state of health, ease of breathing, height, build and sexual development. _

_*Obtain the patient's weight. Note posture, motor activity and gait, as well as hygiene and any odors of the body or breath._

_*Observe the patient's facial expressions and listen to the patient's manner of speaking, as you note his or her state of awareness._

He had the added advantage that he could Look at the patient and in a matter of seconds, effectively do a combination x-ray/MRI

… - …

August 25

Doctor Osmosis was teaching Physical Diagnosis this morning. "Today's lesson is on taking a good patient history. The mechanics of the patient health history form itself are pretty straightforward. Be certain to find if they have a chief complaint or a main issue that they're there for. That is referred to as the presenting complaint…." Harry realized that his personality perfectly fit what he was saying.

"…Find the history of the present illness. It's referred to as the HPI…"

"…Medications and allergies…"

"…Those are the mechanics. Here are some tips on getting a good patient history. That's what we're here for." The Doctor was making perfect sense to Harry.

"Let's start with my first tip. Listen well and empathize. Keep in mind that the person is coming to you, not to a robot. The point of you being there is to empathize and to listen. If it's not a simple wellness exam, they're usually there because they're scared, they're often in pain, frequently they're uncomfortable. They have a problem. Listen with your whole body; sit up straight. Ensure that there is nothing blocking you from the patient; lean in a bit. Show concern on your face, with your eyes… If you're not completely locked into the conversation the patient may not give you important details. Keep the questions to a minimum. Let them tell their story naturally. Use your open ended questions glidingly…." Hermione realized that she would need to consciously do these things.

"The next tip is to summarize… This is what I'm hearing. Is that right…? You want to go over the data with them. … This is what we're seeing in the x-ray. This is what we think it means…"

When the lesson concluded, Harry thought back to Erika showing the cell photos. Dr. Osmosis' advice made perfect sense.

Hermione heard the same words being presented and considered how much better Harry was at listening. He almost always listened with his complete attention whereas she admitted that after a few words being spoken, she frequently turned her attention to what she was going to say or ask next.

Both came out better for having attended the class.

… - …

Poppy took Erika's advice and made Harry a survey – (I've never tried this, I need more practice, I'm good at this)

Harry looked at the form and admitted, "Healer Pomfrey, I haven't tried any of these things with wanded magic."

She caught his meaning and asked, "How about with other techniques?"

He looked at the list and replied, "I haven't delivered any magical human babies, or done limb, or organ regeneration."

She went to the practice dummy and made a significant slice on each wrist, severing some nerves and blood vessels. "Fix the left wrist the best way you know how.

Harry Looked at the damage for a few seconds and ran his index finger back and forth just over the cut six times. The fix was flawless and took less than a minute."

"Please correct the right wrist using wanded magic."

Harry Looked at the cut and ran his wand along the cut the same six times. The difference was in speed. She could see the healing take place but it took twice as long. The end result was the same – flawless.

She cleaned the mess with a quick wave of her wand and they sat down in the chairs. She asked, "What were the similarities and differences?"

Harry explained, "I visualized the damage the first time. It appeared to be a determined suicide attempt – severe slashes of the inside wrist to the bone. The veins, arteries, nerves, tendons, and epidermis were cleanly severed. I sanitized the wound and repaired the damage in that order."

She handed him a butterbeer that Smiles had left on the counter and asked, "How about the second try?"

Harry admitted, "I didn't use my wand for the assessment. It would require a separate search for nerve damage as the vessel/tendon search wouldn't show it. Truly using a wand-only approach, I'd perform the vessel/tendon exam first, sanitize the area, repair those then do a second exam specifically searching for nerve damage, re-sanitize the area, correct the nerve damage then make the epidermal repair last."

"Using only wanded magic how long would the procedure have taken you?"

"In total, perhaps a minute and a half; longer if a tourniquet needed to be applied to keep the patient from bleeding out or if the cut was ragged. If blood loss was severe or the person had been bleeding for an indeterminate time and I was by myself, I'd have applied a tourniquet, administered two units of blood replenishing potion, done the exam, sanitized the area then made the repairs."

Harry asked, "Healer…"

"Poppy. All my friends call me Poppy."

"Poppy, would you like some lunch? We've been at this quite a while. By the way, all my friends call me Harry,"

They were just about to have lunch when Collin Creevey's little sister, Anna was brought in with a severed arm, just above the wrist. Harry said, "Get four units of blood replenishing potion." He applied the tourniquet charm above her elbow, stunned her. A few seconds Lupin came in, carrying her severed hand and wrist. Without looking, Harry said, "Bring it here."

Poppy had gotten the first unit down, checked her BP and pulse and estimated that she'd lost three units of blood.

Harry positioned the limb nearby, sanitized both areas and began the reattachment process beginning with the bone, then the vessels. Two minutes later, he was finishing with the epidermis and asked, can we remove the tourniquet now?"

Poppy did, then rechecked little Anna's vitals before administering the third dose.

Harry Looked several time to recheck his work and didn't see any problems. He enervated Anna and when he saw that she was awake, said, "Close your eyes and count backwards from sixty." In the meantime, he cleaned the blood-soaked sheets and used a switching spell to put her into a pair of pajamas that Smiles had brought. Finally he transfigured an extra pillow into a little brown teddy bear and set it by her head.

"…Three, two, one. Can I open them now?"

It was at that point that Harry looked up and saw that the room was full of people. McGonagall, Lupin and the new Headmaster, Amos Diggory, along with a handful of students had followed Lupin into the room.

Harry thought for a moment and in his command voice, stated, "There are patient privacy laws. If you're not a teacher, not a word of this to anyone. Understood?"

Six little faces silently nodded up and down. Anna's friend, Jessica bravely asked, "Will Anna be all right?"

Harry walked over to her, crouched down so they were at eye level and replied. She'll be fine by dinner time; Anna's had a hard day and needs to rest up a bit, Jessica. I expect that Madam Pomfrey will let her go to lunch tomorrow and you can see her then. OK?"

In the mean-time Poppy had reinspected his work and found it to be flawless. She said, "There's nothing more to see and this patient needs her rest. You three can go discuss what happened with the defense instructor and how to prevent it from happening again. We've got work to do here. Out."

Harry walked back to Anna, saw that she was sleeping and said, "Dobby brought us some fresh lunch. Shall we?"

… - …

After Harry checked in with Anna and left for the day, Poppy sat down and started her paperwork. Erika said, "I heard there was a bit of excitement with the second years this afternoon."

Poppy replied, "I haven't a clue how Georganna Miller could mistake a severing charm for a tickling jinx. The little thing was in tears all afternoon. He was magnificent. He took charge from the moment he saw her until he told the other students not to blab. He even made her a teddy bear. Come look at this. The work is flawless,"

Anna was sitting up squeezing the teddy bear's little arm, softer then harder until it said, Ouch, like he'd showed her to do. She thought she was playing with a wonderful toy. In reality, she was doing hand therapy.

Erika commented, "Superb bedside manner. I'd say that he has a patient for life."

Poppy nodded in agreement. She replied, "I'm going to need to speed up his program another few notches. You were right about the students. Minerva mentioned what happened in her sixth year class. The Sunday exam schedule is full – all sixteen appointments. I usually have two or three. I'll be flooing Anna Crabtree at St. Mungo's for some patients next Saturday."

… - …

October 1, 1999

Erika read the morning paper carefully

_Werewolf No More_

_An astonishing bit of news was uncovered last week and confirmed by several sources._

_Remus Lupin was a werewolf since he was five years-old. He was treated last year and has remained free of the horrible disease since. Lupin has resumed his professorship role at Hogwarts and according to student sources is doing an excellent job._

_Lupin stated that he would forever be grateful to the medical team that had treated him. He commented that another group of Lycans had been treated in July and were all doing well. When asked who had done the treatment, Professor Lupin replied, "That's not my story to tell."_

_The staff at the Daily Prophet wish Professor Lupin and the as-yet unnamed medical staff continued success._

Erika had mixed emotions as she read the paper. Part of her wanted to stand up and shout _"It was me, it was me."_ Another part was aware of the financial realities and didn't want to have to say no to 600 hard-luck cases from various countries, who doubtless would all be innocent-looking children.

Flitwick was sitting next to her as she read the paper. He said, "All of the truly great heroes are of the unsung variety. There's plenty of time to get the process smoothed out and have your face printed on a Chocolate Frog card."

She admitted, "I know. It…"

"I honestly know exactly what you mean. I will say this, In Professor Lupin's eyes, you _are_ his hero. Perhaps that's enough?"

… - …

Four hundred miles to the south someone else was reading the same article. Unlike the staff at the _Daily Prophet_, the reader had no well-wishes for Remus. Lupin had been a thorn in his sided since he'd _gifted_ the boy one night over thirty years ago.

Greyback sliced the paper with the long, yellowed, overly sharp fingernail pf his little finger. He sliced it again and again, until the paper was shredded.

He wasn't happy at all.

… - …

May 1999

Susan Amelia Bones had come to an inescapable conclusion – the life of an Auror Cadet sucked – pure and simple. "File this, get me that, read the effing manual, you're in my way, why didn't you do that?"

She loved her aunt and deeply respected her work but…

Most of the time, they weren't even training, they were waiting. They didn't have any dedicated instructors. The only people on the force who were the least bit nice to them were the aurors who were the second lowest on the ladder now. They were desperately hoping that the new recruits would stick it out and finish so they could get off the night shift or other crap assignment.

If she were flat-out honest with herself, even the work that the more senior Aurors didn't look that appealing to her

… - …

June 1999

As Harry and madam Pomfrey were tidying up the hospital wing for the day, Poppy said, "Harry, you're more than ready to take your Healer exams. When would you like me to schedule them?

"It's only been a year, Hermione was here two years."

"Harry, you've attended to more than twice the number of patients than Hermione did in two years. You're different people with different learning styles and frankly, you started with two years more medical knowledge than she did. I expect when you two begin your practice, you'll end up taking the urgent cases and procedures and she'll spend more time in the lab or on the nonmagical side. Time will tell."

"How do the exams work?"

"Normally I do them for the healers who apprenticed at St. Mungo's. In your cases, Alice Crabtree, the Head Healer there will administer them. They take two consecutive days. Mornings are devoted to theoretical and afternoons and evenings are practical. The practical always includes a childbirth and an emergency situation of one sort or another as well as a routine exam or two and at least two proper diagnosis. Due to her other commitments, one of you would test one week and the other the next week.

"Thank you, for everything."

"Talk it over with Hermione and schedule yourself in July, before Empire starts up for you in August."

… - …

That evening was Harry and Susan's date night. He picked her up at six. Hey went back to the pizza place that was their first dinner date. Susan was quiet while they were waiting for their pizzas to arrive. When they arrived, Harry asked, "How was your day?"

"…I hate this…" "…I don't see it getting any better…" "…I hate dementors…" "Three hours of paperwork to arrest a stupid shoplifter…" sniff "…He was released before I even had all of the forms filled out…" "…I don't want to do this anymore…" sniff "…I don't want to let Auntie down…" "…I want to do something else…"

Harry maintained eye contact the entire time, nodding as appropriate, offering her a napkin, silently casting a notice-me-not and silencing charms so they wouldn't be disturbed. The memories of his encounters with dementors bothered him too.

Harry had just had another _Big_ Idea.

… - …

Harry stopped into the Granger Dental as he'd asked to have lunch with Dan. He looked around. The waiting room had chairs for about a dozen people. There was a perky person at the reception desk who greeted him. She said, "Good morning. How may we help you today?"

Harry replied, "Harry Potter. I'm here to have lunch with Dan."

She replied, "Dr. Granger is expecting you. Please have a seat. I'll tell him you're here."

"Hi Harry. Good to see you. Where to?"

"The Black Dog."

Dan grimaced and replied, "I think we'd need a reservation."

"They know we're coming. Did you want to drive or…?"

"I'll drive." They went out to the lot and got into Dan's Range Rover. Five minutes later they arrived at the pub.

They walked in. There were about a dozen people waiting for tables. Tim, the barman, greeted them. "Good day, Mr. Potter. The room upstairs is ready for you."

"Thanks, Tim."

Somewhat surprised, Dan asked, "Do you come here often?"

"No just twice before. Barchoke told me about it."

"I didn't know he also recommends restaurants."

"He's really helpful. In this case, apparently, I own it."

Dan admitted, "That will do it."|

The server took their order, brought back beverages and they got down to business. Harry said, "I'm ready to start thinking about starting a clinic. If you have the time, I'd like some advice and I really don't know where to start."

Dan replied, "When it's up and operating what's your vision for the clinic? What procedures do you expect to perform?"

Harry explained, "I was envisioning a building that had a partition. One side for nonmagical humans and the other half for everyone else. The magical side isn't as equipment intensive as the other. Probably four to six rooms there. I was thinking six exam rooms, a lab for bloodwork, a room for procedures, waiting rooms, rest rooms, four offices, supply room and some sort of lunch room. Probably 10,000 square feet with a 40/60 split."

"As far as procedures, I envision delivering babies, cancer treatment, hair growth, weight loss, limb, bone and organ replacement – normal stuff. Maybe the occasional Were treatment."

"Harry, we have vastly different perspective as to what constitutes _normal stuff_. Can you actually do all those things and stay within the Statute of Secrecy?" Something was niggling at the back of his mind at the mention of Were treatment. He put it aside.

Harry replied, "The organ replacement is a potion that requires magic to make. Given the right ingredients, you could whip up a hair growth tonic this afternoon."

"Are you planning on taking NHS cases?"

"There is no NHS on the magical side. Everyone pays based on the cost and time spent on the treatment. There are the occasional pro bono cases. In most cases, if the patient couldn't pay, their head of house would cover it. On the other side, I'd prefer to avoid the NHS if I can, though I admit, Hermione may have other ideas. . I think she wants to spend more time on the nonmagical family practice side, To be honest, I'm not certain that she's gotten to that level of detail yet but it gets back to your NHS question."

"Dan diplomatically asked, "Your facility seems like a lot of space for the two of you. Are you planning on adding staff soon?"

Harry admitted, "I have someone in mind. How does your billing get done? That will be a bit trickier for me as I have multi-currency issues."

Dan admitted that he'd never considered billing in multiple currencies and wondered if two divisions might make sense. He asked, "How about physician's assistants – someone to take the medical history and do the initial exams?"

Harry Looked at Dan for half a minute and replied, "You weigh 170 pounds, your blood pressure is 136 over 74, your heart rate is 66 BPM and you have an old shoulder issue. When we get back to your office, I could treat it in about five minutes, or cure it overnight. To that, you have a good point, there are medical records to be filled out and we'd both need some help. Long-term, I envision ten or twelve people total."

Amazed, Dan replied "I'll happily take you up on that. What you probably should think about and discuss with Hermione is where you want your clinic located."

Harry replied, "On the magical end, location isn't much of an issue. On the nonmagical side, I suppose it is. How did you decide on Crawley?"

"Emma's parents were in the area at the time and there wasn't another dental clinic within five miles."

"How big is your dental office?"

"About 3,000 feet."

"How big is the rest of the building?"

"10,000 feet total, 5,000 on each floor. Let's do this, I'll call a few physician friends and set up several 15 minute tours. We'll get come ideas regarding layout. Give me a week. Same time, next week?"

"Perfect. Thanks."

… - …

"SQUEEE!"

"Nice, Thank you. What should I work on?"

Two weeks later, there were two more certified healers in the British Isles. Head Healer, Alice Crabtree called her life-long friend Poppy Pomfrey. "Outstanding work, Poppy, especially with Potter. Lord, I wish that we'd have had him with us in '40. He'd have saved hundreds that we had to let go. I've never seen a healer anywhere near that age with such a calming influence."

"He does radiate an aura of complete trust. He has the skills to back it up. How did Hermione do?"

"She gets a bit excited but in a happy way. I'm certain that she'll settle in just fine. How much longer do they have at Empire?|

"Three more years, give or take."

Crabtree commented, "I'm surprised that they didn't ask for at least a part-time position."

Poppy recalled Harry once asking if she was willing to keep his confidences and wisely shrugged.

… - …

Sirius and Harry were again asked to join the Wizengamot but both refused. Sirius used the same _still waiting for a settlement_ excuse, while Harry had his hands full with Medical school. They both wanted to put it off another year. With Hogwarts and apprenticeships out of their way, they both seriously increased their class load at Empire. As for the Wizengamot, Sirius and Harry both agreed to put off rejoining for one more year.

Pansy Parkinson was still out of the country and chose to wait as well. The Bulstrodes hadn't responded to Ogden's inquiries.

In the meanwhile, they both had the side-project of stacking the deck against those who fundamentally agreed with Riddle's stated position on pure blood superiority

ooo ccc ooo

Dan and Emma are coming to the conclusion that after treating werewolves, simple root channels aren't much of a thrill

Susan's dilemma is far too common. She enters the family business or profession and concludes that she's not in love with it

Fenrir… Is not a nice person.

… - …


	11. Bump in the Night

Chapter Eleven – Things go Bump in the Night

August 1999

Their decision to take four classes each plus clinicals for that semester may have been overly aggressive. Harry's mindset was, _I need to pass these, not be first in the class_. He wasn't looking for someone to hire him

Hermione couldn't change her academic mindset, that far, that fast and suffered from the stress of the load.

By December they both agreed not to be that aggressive in their thinking. Harry was sick of hearing about HIV and a swarm of other diseases.

… - …

On one of his once-a-month Saturday morning visits, Harry asked about how someone could become a head of a new house.

Ragnok replied, "Establishing a house is simply a declaration, with some paperwork, creation of a house ring and some fees paid. What are your plans?"

Harry explained about the vacancies that would need to be filled within the Wizengamot.

Pleased with the news about the seats formerly filled by those who had constantly belittled his kind, Ragnok asked, "Who did you have in mind?"

"I'd like to find a way to get Fred Weasley, Collin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hermione Granger nominated and accepted for Wizengamot seats."

"Let's examine these one at a time. Fred Weasley and his brother run a thriving business and in another few years, could very easily have attained the minimum financial requirement on their own That could be easily circumvented by quietly providing him a loan that they use to expand into a more profitable vertical market. Unfortunately, Fred would have a hard time legitimately claiming head of house status, unless Arthur Weasley gave up his title and offered it to him. It would be easier for Fred to change his name and claim head of the Prewett line. Both are options. Working against all of them is the fact that they aren't married with children to carry on the line. With so many lines having been extinguished, an existing legacy for any candidate would be looked on favorably."

"Harry agreed, "Those facts are indisputable. However Barchoke always told me that the most effective time to strike metal is when it's hot. The opportunity for positive change is near. I honestly expect it to be the first item of new business once the meetings resume."

Ragnok agreed, "Sirius Black could also easily fund Colin Creevey, who would need a bit of a career boost. Colin is the oldest magical in his family and could legitimately qualify as a head of house. Fred Weasley would be the easier of the two to get ratified because of his blood status."

Harry didn't like the answer, but Ragnok had an arm's-length objectivity and understood magical politics.

"Your mention of Justin Finch-Fletchly is also an easy choice. He already would meet the financial requirements and would only need to have an existing member offer to sponsor his nomination. Who did you have in mind?"

Harry replied, "Madam Longbottom, though I haven't asked her yet."

Ragnok laughed. "Don't wait too long before approaching her, or someone else will be asking her first with their selection. Finally there is your lifelong friend, Hermione Granger. Her easiest avenue would be to claim some to be some sort of relation to Hector Dagwood-Granger, who is most likely in his last year of life. If that held true, she would have an existing seat within a year provided she met the financial requirements."

They sat in silence for a minute before Ragnok asked, "Who would you sponsor?"

Harry replied, "Fred, since we are business partners."

Ragnok agreed and replied, "I'll help you. He also suggested, "You might see if there would be any support for filling half of the vacant seats this summer and the other half a year later. It would be easier for Colin Creevey to meet the qualifications to fill a seat a year from this June than then."

… - …

December 24, 1999

After the others left that Christmas, it was just Amelia, Harry and Susan remaining. Amelia said, "You and Susan look like something is on your mind. Would you like to talk about it?

"Sirius and I plan on helping some of our friends launch successful businesses with the duel goals of helping them become reasonably wealthy and making them eligible for nomination into the Wizengamot then it resumes this June." She nodded for him to continue.

"One of the businesses we're hoping to launch is the mass production of pensieves, with the intent that every student or family could afford one and be used as educational aids or other uses."

More curious than not, Amelia asked, "What do they sell for now?"

"We were able to find two runemasters who occasionally made them. CatEagle in Paris had a six year backlog and sells his for G28,000 PhoenixDragon out of Amsterdam has about the same backlog and sells theirs for G35,000."

"Discounting startup costs, I expect that a no frills model could be manufactured for G150 and a more deluxe model for twice that. I'm thinking of G695 and G995 as the price points."

Amelia was, if not amazed, highly interested in the idea. She could envision having a dozen of them for her department alone. Harry should add sports teams to his potential client list. She nodded, "Go on."

"With all of these new devices, comes a demand/opportunity for content providers – educational lessons, sports matches, concerts, films, plays, cooking lessons. Someone could make a very good business out of going to those events, licensing, duplicating and distributing those memories. All that would be needed would be to place a difficult to break anti-copying charm on the memory, set pricing and start collecting them."

"That sounds like a brilliant idea."

Harry replied, "Thanks. My thought was to have a sufficient amount of content available and ready to ship along with self-updating catalogs when the pensieves become available."

"Harry, this sounds like a very workable business. What aspect are you leaving out?"

"I was hoping that Susan and Hannah would be interested in owning and running it together."

"I take it that you've discussed this, at least with Susie?"

"Yes."

"Susie, is law enforcement different than you were expecting it to be?"

"Totally. I'm sorry Auntie. I…"

"Susie. Out of a class of six recruits, on average, two make it to their second year. The work itself and the bad scheduling take their toll; let alone being around those horrible dementors. If Harry offered the rest of the recruits the same opportunities, they'd all be gone by breakfast. Harry, what's your timeline for this?"

"I'm looking for the right person for the manufacturing end and need a bit of consulting work from Professor Flitwick. To answer your question, I hope to have the first ones off the line in early September ready for sale for Christmas. The more content that is available early on, the greater the chance will be that people will buy into the idea and purchase a pensieve."

"I hope to have that person in place in March and have a building ready to go."

Highly impressed with his business vision and planning skills she asked, "What are your next steps?"

"Susan and I will talk with Hannah and see if she's interested. If so, we'll have Barchoke put a company together and secure premises. I'll cover all of the startup costs for two years and they can decide how big they want to take it."

"Susie, be sure you three read all of the contracts and you all agree to everything before signing. Happy Christmas, you two. Don't stay up too late."

"Thanks Auntie."

Susan was much happier. A happy Susan was a good thing for Harry too.

… - …

Bathsheda Babbling and Flitwick were happy to spend the day with Harry, Hannah, Susan and Hermione, who was there at Harry's request. After signing no compete/nondisclosures, Harry explained that the CNC machine would start with a block of wood, marble or onyx and shape the dish in the first step. Next, based on the desired pensieve model, it would perfectly carve the many hundreds of runes needed to turn the stone basin into a device that would allow the viewing or projecting of memories. Based on the capacity needed it would store a single memory up to a half hour long to one that could store multiple memories and play or project up to eight hours.

Harry asked, "After the runes are carved, what is the activation process?"

Babbling explained the process of the witch or wizard charging up the runes and in general terms the order of events. Harry had given both professors detailed photographs of the master basins and asked that they provide written instructions regarding the order of activation. Fortunately, both Susan and Hannah had done exceptionally well in runes and clearly understood the instructions.

Babbling also suggested layering several of the runes as an anti-copying measure. For their help, Harry offered each of them pensieves of their own and made a G10,000 donation to each of their departments.

… - …

Their CNC milling partner actually found them by way of the _Daily Prophet_ a week into the New Year. Sirius said, "Look at this, Oliver Wood was badly injured by a bludger and announced his retirement from Puddlemere."

A week later, Harry and Sirius drew up the paperwork and armed with a Flitwick designed anti-copying charm for Susan, the Full Pensieve Entertainment Group Ltd was on its way.

… - …

The first two years after finishing Hogwarts were hard for Ron. His promise to Harry to focus on his schoolwork apparently expired after taking his OWLs.. He had scraped an acceptable on his defense NEWT but he failed charms, transfiguration and herbology – putting paid to any chance that he may have had in getting into the Auror training program.

Trading on his brother Charlie's good name, he'd been offered a tryout with the Canons after Hogwarts and managed to earn a spot as reserve Keeper. While Harry was studying in Medical School, Ron was earning just enough to rent a small flat with his girlfriend, Lavender Brown who worked at Madam Malkin's. They made ends meet by eating dinners at each of their parents several times a week.

… - …

July 5, 2000

There was a fair amount of looking around and nervous counting when the Wizengamot met. The first order of business was the affirmation of the three newest members, Sirius, Harry and Pansey. With the three of them claiming their seats, they were one over the minimum 33 present; though that would not hold for long as Aberforth who had Albus' seat foisted upon him announced plans to retire without heir at the end of the year.

At that point, Ogden asked that the members return to the next meeting with nominations for 16 vacant chairs – the requirements being at least 17, head of family, family trust vault with at least 500,000 galleons and a willingness to serve.

… - …

After Remus left the pub, Harry renewed the silencing charms and asked, "Sirius, are we really any better than the Death Eaters?"

"Harry, you've been going to school to learn how to be a doctor and a healer. Riddle went to school to learn how to frame people, commit murder and create horcruxes."

"I'm not talking about Riddle. His mum probably did it with cobras when the other guy was out of the room. I'm talking about the heavy hitter Death Eaters like Lucius and Parkinson. They cheated, embezzled, changed the rules to better suit them. We've come pretty close to that line."

"That's debatable, but Malfoy and Parkinson killed Susan's parents because they didn't like their politics. They abducted, tortured and raped kids of both sexes just for fun."

Harry chose not to bring up Umbridge. Sirius had never really said what had happened with her. Instead he replied, "And Lucius donated a half-million galleons to build the second wing at St. Mungo's. I donated money to a medical school to get something I wanted."

Sirius replied, "So they're really bad guys who occasionally did something worthy just to get their arses out of a sling. We're mostly good guys who occasionally had to make some tough choices and have tried to help people. You made a good call with Hermione. You didn't change the laws specifically to disadvantage someone."

"No but I benefited from some pretty questionable stuff that Ragnok did."

"It's shades of gray Harry. We're still a heck of a lot lighter than they were. So when you get your clinic set up, don't charge for delivering babies in December. That can be your lifelong atonement."

"What about you?"

"I'll give up sniffing women's crotches while they're out walking their dogs."

"OK. As long as you're serious about it."

They laughed.

… - …

Two days later, Harry was at the Black Dog pub in Crawley waiting for his friend Ron. They'd made plans to have dinner together. A minute later, Ron walked in, looking like a sad dog that had been kicked by his owner. Harry asked, "What's up?"

Ron replied, "I lost my spot on the team to Dennis Creevey."

Harry tactfully didn't mention the fact that the Cannons hadn't won a game since he'd joined the team, or that Ron had the highest goals-per-game allowed record in the league for the games that he'd played. He didn't mention that Dennis may well have the Sight and be able to See which hoop an opponent would attempt to shoot through; placing the Cannons in a position of winning some games, even with a mediocre seeker.

No, Harry was a true and loyal friend. Instead, he replied, "Maybe you ought to go into the estate sale/second hand sales business, like we had during school."

Somewhat interested, Ron observed, "But we didn't make that much when we were doing it at school and we had free stuff to begin with."

Harry replied, "True, but consider this. We were giving the school 60 percent of the net to begin with. You should be able to acquire the goods for about 40 percent. Second, we paid the goblins 20 percent of the gross to sell the goods. If you opened your own shop, you and Lavender should be able to make a pretty good go of it."

"I don't know…"

"Two other things to consider. We were mostly dealing with junk and school kid stuff. You could go after better household stuff and have a store that sells to both magicals and nonmagicals - a chair is a chair. Put up a ward or three and the nonmagicals wouldn't even see the magical side of the shop. You could buy damaged stuff on the nonmagical side, apply a handful of repair and cleaning charms and it would look like new when you sold it as a valuable antique."

"But Lavender likes working for Madam Malkin."

"I expect that she does; she's good with customers. Just think about all she's learned about fabric and the retail business. I've got a great location next to the Leakey Cauldron available that has entrances from both sides. I've also got almost a dozen estates full of stuff that I need to get rid of and would love to have you sell. You wouldn't have to pay for the inventory until you sold it. You keep 60 percent. There should be way more than enough stuff to get you both started. Talk it over with Lavender and we'll talk about it again next Tuesday."

That was the beginning of R-L Brown estate sales and collectables.

… - …

Sirius funded Colin Creevey in an electronics business of sort. They obtained a Nokia cellular telephone franchise after Colin found that a simple sheet of aluminum foil inserted between the smart phone (of the day) cover and the phone itself would provide sufficient shielding to allow the phone to operate without problems.

They solved the recharging issue by selling a hand held solar charging unit. They resold the actual airtime service for two sickels a minute. The service was at best spotty due to some of the remote locations but people loved it. Within six months, half of the under-100-crowd had cell phones.

Their follow-on product was a webservice – Magicals on Line (MoL). It had a dating site that featured personals – _Centar seeking companion for serious relationship. I like long strolls at night, stargazing and vague references. Serious inquiries only._

Who would have known?

His dad dropped the milk delivery position and together, they had a _very_ thriving business. Sirius had his startup loan repaid in under a year.

… - …

July 2, 2000

Ragnok called for a final review before the paperwork was submitted.

Grimreaper reported, "The Flint, Macnair, Nott and Malfoy lines will be declared extinct. In reported order of death - Marcus Flint, Xander Flint, Waldon Macnair Theodore Nott, Samuel Nott, Draco Malfoy and Lucius Malfoy."

Ragnok nodded. That was the most advantageous order of death.

"The Flint estate is worth G100,000, the Macnair estate, G50,000, the Nott Estate,G150,000 and the Malfoy estate by itself 1,100,000. The Malfoy estate was Willed 30 percent of each of the other three estates, or G90,000. Gringotts receives G60,000. The Ministry receives G150,000."

Grimreaper continued, "The reported Dates of Death are June 26, June 27, and June 28 respectively for the students, Flint, Macnair and Nott and Lucius Malfoy respectively. The place of death is reported as Not Britain."

Ragnok nodded. There was no basis to tie the deaths to the tournament. He replied, "Continue."

"The three properties were sold to Harry Potter at markedly below retail value."

The adjusted Malfoy estate is estimated at G1,190,000, excluding the property which Sirius Black directed to be sold to Harry Potter for one galleon. G394,000 went to Sirius Black. Gringotts receives G238,000. The Ministry receives G558,000."

"Very good. How liquid are the Potter holdings?"

Barchoke reported, "G75,000. He should be advised to begin disposing the properties and their contents."

"Sell him the Umbridge property for G6,000. Send one of our teams out to thoroughly search and level the property. The findings should prove interesting. Resell it at list when it has been searched and razed."

The Senior Account Managers nodded in agreement.

Ragnok directed, "Grimreaper, delver the death notices late in the afternoon on July 5." By then, Fudge should be disposed of and there should be a much friendlier mix of seated members at the Wizengamot."

… - …

July 3

Harry's three picks were accepted, as was Minerva McGonagall, Amos Diggory, Dedalus Diggle, Hannah Abbott's mum Cynthia, along with Myron Wagtail, lead singer of the Weird Sisters. There was not a majority on the other eight seats and it was agreed to hold elections for those seats in another year. In the course of a month, the Wizengamot had gotten noticeably younger. Harry had every belief that he could find another handful of candidates in the next year and continue the trend.

The family wealth requirement was discussed and decided to be kept with the logic that a person of less wealth would be just that much easier to bribe. Fudge received more than a few dark looks immediately after those words were spoken.

… - …

After the Wizengamot meeting ended, Fudge left the building and walked to Gringotts. When he walked into the building, Barchoke, and the other Senior Account Managers were notified. Barchoke called for Harry's friend Dobby, who called Harry, who called Amelia.

By the time Fudge got to the front of the line, Amelia was on her way and the door guard had been doubled. Fudge handed the teller three keys and said, "I'd like to withdraw the balance of these accounts."

Greentooth gave a goblin smile and replied "Certainly, Minister. Would you prefer to go into the vaults yourself or should I send runners to collect the contents?"

It had been years since Fudge had entered Gringotts personally. He didn't recall that such a service existed. It didn't. At that point, Amelia and two hand-picked Aurors were behind her and said, "Perhaps you'd prefer to wait in the meeting room, Minister. It might be a few minutes."

Amelia was the last person Fudge wanted to see at this time but saw no alternative. When they got to the meeting room they were met by Ragnok, four guards and two more aurors. Ragnok said, "Please have a seat, Minister."

Fudge was sweating now. He should have had Debit pick up the gold for him. He had no way of knowing that Basil Debit was currently an official guest in one of the holding cells.

Amelia had been given plenty of time to prepare this offer. "Cornelius Fudge, I'll make you a one-time offer. Resign immediately and sign all of your vaults and titles to all of your out-of-England properties to the ministry. If you do that, you will be allowed to quietly live out your life on your pension."

Before he could say anything, she continued. "Or you will be arrested right now and I predict that there will be an 80 percent chance that you will spend the next twenty years enjoying the comforts of Azkaban. Are you feeling lucky?"

Fudge asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Simple, it's the right thing to do. You and Debit stole that money and you've been stealing money by way of accepting bribes your entire career here. Besides, you helped allow Sirius Black to be thrown into prison for eleven years without a trial."

"But… But…"

"You decide."

Fudge looked over the paperwork. An immediate and irrevocable resignation letter, termination letters for Waldon Macnair, Dolores Umbridge and Basil Debit, sale of each of the properties and their contents for one galleon each and the gifting of the contents of two of the three vaults to the Auror department. The third was designated to fund werewolf treatment.

Amelia asked, "Which is the largest vault?

"516."

"Designate 516 for werewolf treatment."

Amelia said, "When you decide to leave England and go to whatever villa we were unable to find, be aware that you will not be allowed to return to Britain."

When he finished signing the documents, Ragnok examined them and observed, "They are all in order."

Amelia said, "You are free to go, Mr. Fudge. Your personal property from your office has been delivered to your home. Go in peace, Mr. Fudge."

Without comment, Cornelius quickly walked out of Gringotts.

Amelia asked, "Which property did you leave him?"

Ragnok replied, "Cypress. They have no extradition, so we would have had a difficult time getting that one either way."

Fudge was out of the country within hours and was never seen in Britain again.

Amelia said, "Thank you, Ragnok. You and the account managers did a remarkable job."

"As you said, it was the right thing to do. It remains our hope that the person who will be elected Minister, will move the country forward, and take steps to include the all of the magicals residing in Britain, not simply the humans. It is also our hope that that person remain in office no more than one term."

"I completely agree. Thank you again." She collected the documents and was on her way.

When she left and the door had been close, leaving just the Senior Account Managers and Ragnok, Barchoke asked, "Do you believe that Director Bones will honor our request?"

Ragnok replied, "Yes. She designated enough gold to cure all of the Werewolves on the British Isles. I believe her to be an honorable woman and a formidable leader. It is my expectation that Augusta Longbottom will be elected and very possibly leave after as few as three years. In those years, I hope to see large advances for all of the other magicals."

… - …

July 5

Grimreaper personally delivered the Death Notices to the Goblin Liaison office. The clerk passed them along to the in-basket at Financial Services without so much as a glance. As Debit was occupied as a guest of the DMLE, the paperwork was logged properly and without comment.

The termination notices had been recorded as back-dated on the forms that Fudge had signed. No attempt was made to do a claw-back of salaries for either Umbridge or Macnair. Since both Macnair and Umbridge had previously (via the back-dating) been terminated, there would be no basis for doing an investigation.

As the Financial Director was occupied, there was no weekly report mentioning the estates being processed or the vault transfers to the ministry coffers.

Apparently, timing was everything.

… - …

Earlier in the summer, Sirius ended up buying a 34 foot tugboat, fitted up for pleasure. He paid G100,000 for it and it could easily be operated by one person. It slept four and with the aid of a few charms, rode in the open water surprisingly well. His first outing was with Moony. They had mooring at Folkstone. He was taking Harry, Susan and Amelia for a ride this afternoon.

After they got settled in, had beverages and a snack, Amelia commented, "This is very peaceful. I can see how you came to enjoy it."

Sirius admitted, "After my time In Azkaban, I find the openness of the water especially comforting. I like to watch the birds dive into the water."

"Being under the water is kind of cool. If you ever take the boat somewhere warm, you should try some gillyweed," added Harry.

It was a very peaceful afternoon.

… - …

August 6

The August Wizengamot meeting was lengthy. Fudge's resignation was accepted without comment. Augusta Longbottom was elected to a six-year term of office. Master herbologist Neville Longbottom, who recently had claimed the head-of-family ring was administered the oath and was the Wizengamot's newest member.

The acting finance director stated that the fund balances were up for the month. She hadn't mentioned the reason and no one questioned her lack of detail as it was her second day on the job.

There were two dozen job requisitions submitted. Amelia asked for a dedicated trainer position as well as twelve other positions, primarily Auror trainees so there could be less lengthy shifts at Azkaban. Building maintenance had three openings. There were two openings in Finance, including the director. Administration had two openings. Percy Weasley had wisely resigned and the Senior Undersecretary position was vacant. It was decided not to replace Macnair's position at this time.

Malfalda Hopkirk had wisely tendered her resignation that morning, as had Sally Edgecombe and two others in Floo services. All told, there were thirty fairly sudden resignations from different departments – either Fudge cronies, a handful of DE wannabes, or just people who felt the winds of change and didn't want to be a part of it. Amelia requested that they not be replaced at this time as she was planning on doing a major department reorganization.

All of the requested positions were approved with the request that the others be resubmitted for review and approval in sixty days.

… - …

With each pensieve sold, Susan and Hannah included five free memories along with a self-updating media catalog. Dobby's elf friends gladly filled all of the orders and delivered them for two sickles each.

Tens of thousands of memories had been sold in the first month – Audiobooks (especially bodice rippers) movies, sports games including quidditch and football. Apparently it became acceptable to be interested in a nonmagical sport, if watching it from a magical device. Susan had the grand idea of getting the memory of the games from either the announcer, a coach, or one of the players. Rock concerts sold especially well for those who had the higher-end pensieve models.

With Barchoke's help, they had a generous royalty plan where 20 percent of the sale price went to the talent. Their duplication, packaging and distribution costs averaged 30 percent, leaving them with a very healthy margin.

Barchoke suggested two galleons as their price point and it turned out to be a stunning success. Within a week, they bought a sixth CNC machine and were selling 40 pensieves a day – mostly internationally at triple the price. From month to month, they were expecting to double production. They were riding the wave of a real hit.

… - …

Ron had been clearing out estates for Sirius and Harry for just over a year. He started with the Snape property at Spinner's End. Rockcrusher had removed all of the potion related material and left everything else. The only other thing Gringotts had done was to remove all of the wards and traps at Black's request.

Ron had spent a month at the property by himself, as Lavender was finishing up at Madam Malkin's. He vanished the junk while cleaning and repairing the few items that had any real value. When he was done, the house was sold and Sirius paid him an additional G2,000. He had only been paid G500 a month with the Canons. What he had acquired, aside from a bit of gold and saleable stuff was a marked improvement of his spellcasting.

Harry had him do the Carrow property next. The property was similar in scope to Snape's. Three weeks of work yielded some saleable pieces but most of it was of Salvation Army quality. Ron did learn to check all of the pockets of the clothing as they contained a total of G800. Harry didn't immediately sell the property but it was good to go.

The Avery and Mulciber properties proved to be much more lucrative. The furniture was all saleable and he found a total of 40,000 in the four months that he was at those properties.

The Flint and Nott properties were similar. Three months work yielded saleable furniture and G20,000.

Recently Ron had started on the Malfoy manor. Ron and Lavender did the initial walk- through with Rockcrusher and Dobby, who knew the property well. When they were finished, Rockcrusher suggested, "The artwork that is not portraits has significant value. You would get a better price in the nonmagical world. The same would hold true for the silver service. Healer Potter and Healer Granger would be interested in many of the books in the library. I suggest that you go through there later and bring someone along capable of disarming traps. The upstairs is safe, as is this wing on the main floor. The study has many deadly traps and hidden doors. A cursebreaker would be helpful to get through that area. There are dangers in the outbuilding. You should avoid that area."

When he left, Dobby added, "Bad old master has a hidden room under the floor in his study. There are both valuable and bad things there."

Before Ron could ask more, Dobby went back to his work, helping Susan."

Lavender asked, "Where's the painting?"

Ron replied, "In here. It's a painting of two ladies without any clothes on by some guy. R, E, N, that looks like an I or an E, O, R. Put it in the muggle side of the shop on a 30 day silent auction. Let's see what we get."

"OK."

"I'll be upstairs for a few minutes. Have a look and see if there's other good stuff."

Ron walked up the stairs and Lavender went out the back door. It was a sunny day with a light breeze. As she saw the out-building, a chill went down her spine and she went back inside.

Ron levitated a large chest of silverware down the hallway and thought he heard a funny noise. Concentrating on keeping the chest of knives, forks and spoons levitated, he had just taken the first step down the stairway when he saw Fenrir Grayback with one hand around Lavender's mouth and his other groping her ample chest.

In his panic, Ron completely lost concentration and the chest fell, smashed on the floor, with the biggest piece hitting Grayback in the head. The Werewolf had been pierced by fifty silver knives and there was a salad fork stuck in what was left of his eye.

Ron called for Dobby to come. The little elf appeared a few moments later. Ron screamed, "Go get the Aurors."

They arrived a few minutes later.

In several retellings, the tale shifted in scope a bit from a panicked blunder to an amazing counter-defense but the fact remained that Ronald Billius Weasley had rid the world of a _very_ dangerous man. A few months later, he was awarded the Order of Merlin – third class.

The painting was a real Renoir that Abraxas' father had (barely legally) swindled the artist out of, causing the family to leave France in the late 1800s. It sold at auction for fifty million pounds. Subtracting the auction fees, Ron and Lavender received some five million galleons (real money) and another 200,000 from their share of the rest of the property.

After the building was emptied three months later, Harry asked Barchoke to send in the Artificers to put in the de-magicing devices. The Manor was razed and the extensive property sold for a very good price to a sheep rancher.

… - …

December 2000

Hannah reported that they had sold their one millionth memory on the first of the month. The transfer of wealth to the elves was unprecedented in their history.

Amazingly to Hannah and Susan, their best-selling memories turned out to be an old television show – I Love Lucy. With 180 episodes, they were delighted and had created several specially priced box sets. _Lucy, you no can go to the club tonight_ had become a commonly spoken phrase among the Hogwarts students

By the end of February, they had delivered their second million memory vials. Susan and Hannah loved their work and proved to be excellent managers. Susan never regretted leaving the Aurors and Oliver felt the same.

Each had a 25 percent stake in the company along with Harry and they each felt like they had received the best part to the deal.

ooo ccc ooo

I drafted several versions of the Malfoy manor scene – Ron getting horribly cursed by an item in the hidden room under the study, Lavender getting bitten, Ron selling the painting for a rummage sale price and Harry saving the day were all considered. Somehow Ron pulling a complete no-brainer felt the best.

I expect that the last set of Death Notices would have completely wiped the pureblood smugness off of many of the Ministry employee's faces. I expect that they'll mostly decide to leave the country, as did the DE wives.

The conversation between Harry and Sirius was thought provoking to write. They benefitted greatly from the actions of the goblins and as we know, there is no free lunch.


	12. What Really Changed?

Chapter Twelve – What Really Changed?

July 2001

Elder Ogdon read the Oath – "Hermione Jane Granger, do you swear to work toward the betterment of Britain, be just in your decisions and work toward the betterment of all magicals residing in the Isles?"

"I will."

And so she was sworn in as the 1535th member of the Wizengamot; the first to use the new oath referencing the betterment of all magicals, rather than wizardkind. It was a bittersweet moment for her, as she felt that some of the newer light gray members such as Oliver Wood or Colin Creevey had done more to actually earn their seat, even if they had been sponsored and groomed for the position. Her greatest accomplishment relative to her Wizengamot appointment was inheriting a bit of wealth by means of outliving Hector, who previously held the seat.

Colin had done very well for himself. His latest follow-on was a device that could be used with most current cell phone models. With it, his phones could be used almost anywhere in Britain and receive an excellent signal. He wisely patented the process and then in a stroke of determined genius, offered it for sale at a very reasonable price – only to his subscribers, magical or unmagical. To further increase his market share, he offered a limited contract buyout option (with his own even longer-term contract) and offered a (limited) guarantee for his phones against breakage. He simply misted on a hardening/impervious potion, let it imbue into the case for a minute and wipe off the residue. Via simple word of mouth, he quickly became the number one phone distributor in Britain. Money literally poured into his shops.

However, Colin was a lonely man and wisely asked Hermione to marry him. They were very well suited for each other. They married that December and eventually had three boys.

Other new members who were voted into the Wizengamot included Order of Merlin holder Ron Brown (Weasley) Oliver Wood, and four muggleborns. Augusta designated one to specifically represent the Goblin nation and another to temporarily specifically represent all other magicals with the specifications that as the next openings became available, they would be filled by the magicals who they represented. Their other task was to find candidates within their represented group who would qualify.

By the end of the year, Dobby the elf and Grimreaper were the newest members. The other elves pooled their money together, happily gave it to Dobby and he easily made the vault balance requirement.

… - …

December 2001

Harry was in his last year of Clinical training at Empire College working at Charing Cross Hospital. It had been years of long hours but he was very happy with the work. .

Their usual Friday lunch at the Black Dog pub was a bit different this week in that Hermione and Emma had also come along.

Dan stated, "The building will be ready to occupy and fit up in six months. A fourth of the equipment on your list can only be ordered by a licensed physician. In short, if you want to move ahead, you need to hire a physician, ideally a senior person to guide the two of you along. Do you have someone in mind?"

Hermione mentally went through the list of the staff at Empire. Any would be adequate for 18 months, then become a liability when both sides of the clinic opened. Additionally, she doubted that any could be convinced to leave a tenured position to join a startup clinic run by students.

As she was about to say so, Harry replied, "I can ask Poppy. I believe she'd join us."

Hermione stated, "But she's been at Hogwarts for over 50 years."

Not rising to the bait, Harry calmly replied, "Almost 60 years; that's exactly my point. I expect that she'd jump at a change of scenery. She could have a place of her own if she wanted, or a flat with a posh address in London if she'd prefer. We could find her a three bedroom home in Notting Hill and she could have the Hogwarts staff over for weekend sleepovers. Honestly, I expect that she'd prefer a nice cottage by the ocean in Brighton or Folkstone to a bunch of overachieving neighbors in London."

Emma asked, "Could you afford her?"

"Her home would be a signing bonus. I'd happily double her Hogwarts salary; triple it if needed."

Emma rephrased her question, "Could the business afford her?"

Harry replied, "In your dental practice, you have your share of well-healed clients. One of them comes in and states that his wife has stage-four cancer. You send them our way and a week later, they're as good as new. What would that be worth to them?"

Emma admitted, "Everything."

"So we charge them a hundred thousand pounds and they tell their cousin and a month later, we have five new patients. We're able to cure four of them and put the fifth into remission. They tell four people and a year later, the waiting room is full."

Harry put his glass down and said, "The business will start out debt free. Hermione, I never asked before, would you prefer to be a partner or an employee?"

Dan and Emma wisely remained silent. This was their daughter's decision. Hermione replied, "What did you have in mind?"

"The building will end up about six million sterling after the fit-up. The furniture and equipment would probably be another million to be properly kitted out. I'll cover the building and write the business an inexpensive lease on it. You could cover half of the equipment and if you'd like, I'd write you a loan on it. We could be equal partners in an LLC."

Hermione didn't answer immediately, so Harry continued, "Another option would be to come in as an employee. You would be paid either a good salary, or a percentage of your net revenue."

Dan was completely impressed with the thought and prep work that Harry had obviously put into running a successful business, as well as the variety of options that he was offing his daughter. He remarked, "Before you talk numbers or draw up papers, the two of you should think through if you're planning on being open to NHS or pro-bono patients."

Harry asked, "What do you do?"

Emma replied, "Three days a week we accept appointments from NHS cases; the rest of the time, patients pay full price."

Emma added, "On a related topic, Dan and I would be interested in working with you at some point. We're qualified to do lab work, or we could take medical histories, or do the billing."

Hermione asked, "What about your practice?"

Emma admitted, "Once you've treated werewolves, fillings don't hold the same allure. We've paid our mortgage and put some money away. We could sell the practice in a year or two, if you both were interested. Once you get your business off the ground, you can make a decision."

Dan picked up the bill for lunch and he and Emma left the two to finish their discussion.

Hermione admitted, "You've put a world more thought into this that I have. I've only kept my nose in the books and prepped for the next clinical."

Harry observed, "I've talked with Dan about this a few times and I like his ideas. For their paying patients, he collects when they leave, usually by credit card – effectively eliminating having a big accounts receivable. He told me that the NHS stuff is a nightmare, submitting documentation paperwork and waiting months to finally get paid. My preference would be to not go there. We literally have the ability to cure what is widely considered the uncurable. We don't need to peddle flu shots. If we want to give summer wellness checkups for kids before they go back to school, we can do that on the magical side and get paid that day."

Hermione thought about what he said and replied, "If that doesn't work, we can always take those cases on Tuesdays. What about Madam Pomfrey?"

"Simply stated, we need her. She's add a world of credibility to our team. I'll go see her next week. We'll finish at Empire in seven months. On the short side, she could order the equipment and leave Hogwarts after Christmas and do set up until next June. On the long side, she could order the equipment in January, we could do the set-up on Saturdays and open next June."

"I like that better."

"Hermione, regarding getting paid, Dan told me that they have what's called a draw – basically a salary, except for owners, where they get a check twice a month. He said twice a year, they write bonus checks if they did better. That way, you've got money coming in that you can count on to pay your bills. Are you going to stay with your parents or get your own place?"

"I'm going to get my own place, later next summer. How about you?"

Harry replied, "The same. I think Sirius needs to get out of #12, live in London and meet a lady who will put up with him. The only thing he does is go out on his boat. I currently own a bunch of properties and I want to get rid of most of them."

Curiosity won out over tact and Hermione asked, "How did you get so many properties and what's a bunch?"

"About 20 and Barchoke bought them at estate sales."

"Why so many? What are you going to do with them? Who is living in them? Where are they?" She stopped for a second and said, "I did it again, didn't I? Sorry."

Harry smiled at his friend and replied, "To answer your questions, they came on the market and I got a good deal on them. Ron is cleaning them out and selling the furniture in his shop. No one is living in any of them as far as I know. I intend to sell them. My parents had two properties in Britain, besides the cottage in Godrick's Hollow. There is also one in Nice France and one in Bermuda. I haven't been to any of them but expect that Susan and I will go have a look sometime. As for the others, I'm not sure where they are. Barchoke handles them. Last but not least, it's who you are Hermione; you never need to change."

She smiled in appreciation of his true acceptance and said, "Thanks Harry."

… - …

The discussion with Poppy was surprisingly simple. Harry presented his offer, including the home of her choice at double her current salary. She picked out a seaside cottage in Brighton near the Abbots, gave a six month notice and started her shopping project. It turned out that all of the healers working during the war had received physician licenses to make it easier when working on the nonmagical side.

She also presented Harry with a schedule of potions to make with quantities and a schedule with dates to make them.

… - …

The last year of Medical school flew by. They were busy during the week with assignments and clinics and were even busier on the weekends. They finally decided to take Sundays off and just get as much done on Saturdays as they were able to.

Poppy and Dobby did much of the setup for the magical side while Dan, Emma, Hermione and Harry set things up on the medical side.

… - …

June 2002

Harry and Hermione had finished all of their board examinations and with a week of school left, happened to meet Dr. Wallace in the hallway. Harry still thought that he was a dead ringer for Amos Diggory.

"Dr. Potter, Dr. Granger, how nice to see you both again."

"And you, sir."

"Dr. Potter, what can you tell me about Lycanthropy?"

Harry gave a quick glance to Hermione and replied, "Quite a bit, sir. What specifically were you asking about?"

"Is there a cure?"

"Not as such, sir but there are a handful of people in Britain that I'm aware of who have been successfully treated and have displayed no symptoms for years."

"Interesting. I've investigated treatment plans for years and never came across one that was viable without killing the patient."

"If you know someone who is infected and they are healthy, you might want to contact Healer Erika Smith. She can be reached at this number. On a different subject, sir, might you happen to know a man named Amos Diggory?"

"Yes. He is, or was my brother until I turned out to not have magic and was disowned by my family. My wife has the disease. Can she be treated?"

"Absolutely. I'll contact you when a treatment course can be scheduled. It runs 28-30 days depending on the patient – probably in August, the day of the full moon. What blood type is she?"

"AB, the same as me. What is the cost?"

$350,000 pounds."

Dr. Wallace could easily afford the cost. He replied, "Thank you, Doctors. Thank you both."

… - …

Antiseptic, wipes, boxes of exam gloves, an EKG machine, exam tables, PCs, software, telephones, business cards, more software, waiting room furniture, printers, patient record jackets, lab equipment, sample vials, scales, sharpies – the list seemed endless. They received and signed for packages, interviewed people, got a phone system, took a seemingly endless stream of calls from salespeople, inspections, more inspections, and suddenly it was the evening before they opened.

Hermione wanted to have dinner at the Fox and Hound, so a reservation for twenty was made in the private room.

Amelia observed everyone. Ragnok, Barchoke and Windwalker were there from Gringotts. Erika Smith and an elf she hadn't previously met named Tiffin arrived. Flitwick and Babbling were there talking with Susan and Hermione. Dan and Emma Granger were talking with Poppy. Dobby, Winky and Sirius were there. Remus Lupin was sitting next to Ms. Smith.

It was Hermione's turn to say a few words. "When I was eleven, I met this young man on the train. Within two months, he had saved my life. I've come to realize that he was destined to save lives."

Harry gave Amelia the smallest of head shakes. He had never discussed horcruxes with Hermione.

She continued, "Harry has invited a distinguished group of extraordinary people here who all have something in common – you all have changed peoples' lives – for the better. Thank you all for being here."

There would be more to say; however it could wait.

… - …

June 28 Day -3

Five patients were selected for the July Lycan clinical trials.

Penny Wallace, age 57 had been a Lycan for 17 years. Like Remus, she had been attacked by Grayback. Aside from her lycanthropy, she was in perfect health. She was a nonmagical with blood type AB

Payton Patil, said to be age 17 was the younger brother of the twins. Though magical, he hadn't attended Hogwarts. He had been bitten a year ago.

Jim and Rose were the two lycans who hadn't been accepted for the first clinical trial. At the time, Sirius had given then each G5,000. They were in much better health this time

Stewart, age 40 was a Canadian acquaintance of Erika.

Wallace and Patil were both paying patients.

After signing an additional nondisclosure, Harry was given a list of ingredients and purchased them for a total of G2,200.

The phase one potion greatly interested him as it forced the bone marrow to produce normal red blood cells. He was fairly certain that he could use his Sight and the blade that Windwalker gave him along with a hemodialysis machine (normally used in kidney dialysis) to expel the mutated cells within a few hours. On the other hand, at Poppy's insistence, he had been able to sell a very small amount of basilisk venom for G50,000, about a fifth of what Erika had acquired it for.

Additionally, Amelia told them that the Ministry could reimburse them G25,000 each for the two lycans, as they were British citizens from the funds clawed back from Fudge. That brought their revenue to G190,000 – G52,200 = G137,800. Poppy insisted on charging the project G1,800 for use of Harry's clinic. They offered Erika G11,000 to brew the potions, leaving G25,000 for each of the five. Poppy refused a share for herself as she would be tending the other patients for the month.

Day 5

Hermione and Emma were discussing the patients. Hermione commented, "They all seem to be tracking to the results that we saw from Oliver Wood and the sisters last time."

Emma replied, "You need to focus on the differences. We assumed that the one sister was completely without magic. No one actually tested that theory. Penny Wallace is not what you refer to as a squib – she's a true mundane."

"You're right, mum. I'll ask Harry to look at her cells and see if he notices any differences. Thanks."

Day 6

Harry Looked at Penny and saw that her white blood cells were less aggressive and robust than those of the magicals. For a comparison, he Looked at Emma and her white cells were similar.

He pointed that out to the others that evening and asked, "What if the less aggressive cells aren't as capable of fighting off the mutant cells and the transfused blood is more likely to mutate?"

Erika summarized, "Are you suggesting that her white cells are putting up less resistance to the disease than a Witch's blood would?"

Harry replied, "I believe that may be the case. It would also explain why magicals rarely catch mundane diseases."

Hermione knew her friend's thought process and asked, ""What do you have in mind?"

"If we used a hemodialysis machine, normally used for kidney dialysis, I think I could See her blood easier and remove most of the mutated cells. Hopefully that would get rid of the bad ones before her normal cell count would get reduced too much by the phase two treatment. My second idea is to transfuse her with magical blood."

Poppy who was sitting in on the discussion and Erika both admitted that they didn't have a better idea. Dan asked, "What's the lead-time to get a machine like that?"

Harry replied, "I'll ask Barchke to order one. Hopefully we'll have it by noon tomorrow."

Day 7

The machine arrived at ten AM along with two technicians to uncrate it and set it up. Harry and Hermione both donated a unit of blood and didn't fuss when Poppy forced a unit of blood replenisher each on them.

After an hour of rest, Harry and Hermione hooked Penny up to the dialysis machine while Poppy distracted her with small talk. Penny had two shih tzus at home and missed them horribly.

Three hours later, Harry was exhausted but he hadn't Seen a mutated cell in the last half hour. Penny's blood cell count was quite low, so Harry asked Dobby to ask Susan to come over. Harry transfused Susan's blood and Penny's color was visibly better. An hour later, Hermione did five tests and didn't find any mutated cells. Her red blood cell count was 60 percent of normal.

Day 11

Erika reported, "All of the patients are producing normal cells. Jim and Rose's (the previous candidates) counts were not as good as Professor Lupin's but were better than McGinty's were at a comparable date.

Day 15

No mutated cells had been found in five samples from Penny. As a precautionary measure, she was placed on the phase two potion along with the other four.

Day 19

Penny's red blood cell count was at 54 percent of normal due to the phase two potion. The magicals were in the mid to high 60s by comparison. All of her cells were normal. Erika asked for opinions about Penny.

Emma replied, "My suggestion is to return her to the phase one potion and keep testing for mutates cells."

Dan said, "I agree. It will also provide information about her red blood cell counts for the next ten days. In a program like this, more data is better."

No one disagreed and Penny returned to the phase one potion.

Day 22

Dan took Harry aside and said, "We have an issue with one of our patients."

"What's up?"

"According to immigration records, Payton Patil isn't 17, he's 15."

"Damnit. She lied."

"Who?"

"Parvati. If that's his real name, she'd be his sister. She initially contacted Erika."

"Damnit." A moment later Dan added, "He'll have to be taken off of the phase two potion. By your law, he can't have a transfusion."

Harry asked, "What's his count?"

"As of this afternoon, 61 percent of normal with 11 percent mutated cells. If he keeps on potion two, he'll need a transfusion in three days. My first suggestion is to use the hemodialysis machine and the technique that you used for Mrs. Wallace. My second suggestion is to talk it over with Hermione and as your business partner, get her buy-in with the plan. My third suggestion is to get the Patils' arses down here and have them explain their actions. You may want to contact Amelia. Last but not least, our vetting process clearly needs work."

After a minute he added, "If this were my clinic, I'd charge them for the additional treatments."

"How much?"

"100,000 pounds."

If Payton stops the phase two treatment in two days, he won't be clear of the mutation. In a month he'll be back to square one."

… - …

"… In short, they told him to lie about his age. By wizarding law, minors can't receive a transfusion.|"

Erika exclaimed, "That Bitch. She lied straight to my face. Without a transfusion, he'll be in a coma before he gets a clear cell reading."

Day 23

Hermione looked at Parvati, Mr. and Mrs. Patil with a look of utter anger. "In clear violation of British law, you falsified medical records. Do the three of you understand that?"

Parvati replied, "Strictly speaking, only Payton and I filled out that form. He filled it out and I witnessed it and signed as closest living relative."

Sanjay Patil asked, "Are there other options?"

Hermione replied, "Perhaps."

He replied, "Let us return in an hour then."

After they left, Hermione asked Harry, "Can you help him?"

"Yes."

There was no wavering in his voice. She replied, "OK. It's my turn to play bad cop – worse cop. How much did Dad suggest to charge?"

"One hundred thousand pounds."

"No. He can drop out of the treatment today, come back in two years and pay another G70,000, or they can pay G100,000 now and you can treat him this afternoon, or they can walk and try to find somebody else. We put in eight years to get here and she's willing to jeopardize all that with the stroke of a pen."

Harry asked, "What about Erika?"

"She got her money. This isn't her call, this is clinic business."

"OK but that will probably jeopardize our relationship with her. I signed a nondisclosure agreement,"

"Nondisclosure, not noncompete. I could replicate her phase one potion tomorrow, or a similar one. That was the easier of the two potions. The only reason that I went along with her this time was so you could sell some venom. Besides Sanjay can afford it. He has more money than Sirius."

Five minutes later, Dobby returned with a voluntary withdrawal from the treatment program form and a blood cleansing treatment contract with complete disclaimer against their Ottertail clinic that Barchoke had prepared for them.

Sanjay returned ten minutes later. He immediately accepted their offer and handed them a bank draft. He happily paid the money rather than subject his son to seventeen more transformations.

By ten PM that evening, Payton was mutant free.

Day 29

All five patients left the clinic that afternoon. Jim and Rose, along with Erika's patient, Stewart had all needed Day 26 and day 27 transfusions. All five patients had been clear of mutant cells since day 27. Sanjay was beyond relieved to hear that his son hadn't transformed the night before.

Erika hadn't asked about the arrangements made with Sanjay. She recognized that it had been clinic business.

That evening, Harry and Hermione delivered a baby. They went to their homes tired but happy.

… - …

August 4, 2002

Harry was ready for the big day. Winky had been expecting for two years now and told him that she would be having twins tomorrow. Harry consulted with Tiffin, the elf healer, who agreed to come and observe.

The next day at ten AM, Winky and Dobby were the proud parents of two healthy seventeen-ounce baby elves.

After the babies were cleaned up and handed to the proud parents, Tiffin remarked, "You displayed much kindness today, Healer Potter. I shall recommend your services to other magicals. Thank you for helping them."

Harry replied, "It was my pleasure, Healer Tiffin. Thank you for coming here today. I do appreciate you spending your time to be here."

"We both benefitted. I hope to see you another day."

When she left, Hermione said, "Harry that was so… perfect."

That evening, Harry asked Susan to marry him. She said "Yes, please."

They both wanted a family – not Molly Weasley large but four children sounded like a nice number to both of them. They also enjoyed travel – especially above the Arctic Circle in the summer. So far they'd been to Norway, Sweden and Finland. Greenland was on their list for their next trip, followed by Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

They also found that they truly enjoyed each other's company. Harry enjoyed hearing about her day as much as she enjoyed hearing about his. Neither of them had a jealous bone in their body and they always made time for each other. Their extended family now included Dobby, Winky, two little elves and Amelia.

… - …

The Pareto Principle certainly seemed to apply to the business end of their little clinic. Their most lucrative hours seemed to be treating the nonmagical cancer patients. Ten 15 minute treatments for ten consecutive days over the course of a month had largely covered their equipment startup investment. Dan's suggestion of 100,000 pounds had proven to be a good price-point. Better yet, they had eleven booked so far for the next month.

On the low-end side, the scrapes, cuts, broken bones, and the like was good practice. They had a five galleon minimum.

The great consumer of time turned out to be well-care visits, primarily among Hogwarts-age girls and first-generation students or pre-students who have just received their letter and wanted to get inoculated for wizard-borne diseases such as dragon pox. Harry seemed to be the one requested for most of those, much to Poppy and Hermione's amusement.

Hermione was easily spending two thirds of her time on the nonmagical side. Her 15 minute appointments invariably went 20-30 minutes, to the point that they realized that they would eventually need a change in procedure. As they were a new clinic, there were no existing patient history files that could simply be updated.

Last evening, they took their first vampire patient – a broken tooth. She paid them very well for their time, thanked them profusely and wished them well. Dan and Emma each laughed when they heard that story – until they realized that it was real. All were truly welcome.

Their little clinic was thriving.

… - …

At R-L Brown Estates Sales and Collectables, Ron came to realize that he fundamentally enjoyed fixing things and Lavender was very good at negotiating her way to getting full asking price on saleable items and rock bottom prices on purchased items. He didn't mind her flirting a bit with the customers. It seemed that he'd finally matured enough to be comfortable with himself.

Their little company had received a gigantic boost from working through Harry's various properties. Unquestionably the Malfoy home had eliminated any financial concerns that either of them may have had. Their business seemed to operate best when buying pieces from the nonmagical side, repairing them and selling on the magical side, or the other way around. Hermione had suggested going to muggle estate sales and buying damaged, repairable quality items for practically free.

Business was good and they were happy with their life together. They never had any children but were quite happy with the ever-frequent title of Aunt and Uncle.

… - …

A week before their wedding, Harry had Susan and Amelia over for dinner. When the afters had been finished and cleared, Harry announced, "There's something that I need to tell you both. I don't think that big secrets and a happy marriage are a great combination so I wanted to get this out in the open."

Susan said, "I'd like that." Amelia nodded.

Harry opened a case and said, "This wand belonged to Tom Riddle." There was also a crystal vial that contained a memory.

Amelia immediately made the connection and asked, "I suppose he didn't willingly give it to you?"

Harry replied, "No. I took it from his hand, shortly after he'd been re-embodied in June of 1995."

She asked, "That's where the cup took you?"

He nodded, "Ragnok thinks that it was Barty Crouch Junior who was impersonating Moody all of that year."

She pondered his words for a moment, thinking about what was spoken and what had been left unspoken. She asked, "And the others?"

"He called them and I defended myself. There were 19 of them. There was also the extra horcrux that we'd never talked about. I defended myself."

Suddenly it all made sense. Bellatrix Lestrange, perhaps his most devoted follower felt him return and shortly after, felt his demise causing that enormous burst of accidental magic that ended the lives of the dozen Death Eaters residing in Azkaban.

She was silent for nearly ten minutes, pondering the situation from every angle. A 14 year-old boy had effectively ended a war before it began. Whatever method that he used, it was a clear case of self-defense by a boy who had already been abducted. He hadn't yet been declared the winner, so he wasn't yet an adult. Hopkirk hadn't reported any massive displays of magic. The bodies had never been recovered, or at least reported to the magical side. The goblins obviously knew about the deaths and Harry had probably told them about it, accounting for Harry's close relationship with their head of state. The British wizarding world currently was as safe a place to be in as she could remember. Fudge and friends who might wish to grind an ax if it ever came out had been retired. Harry and Sirius had actively stacked the Wizengamot deck in their favor in the event that anything ever came out. She hadn't seen any direct evidence of anyone's death, so there was nothing to investigate. Harry clearly didn't want a medal or any notoriety.

She replied, "You should put that case back in your vault if you want to keep it, Harry. If you'd rather, snap it and toss it in the fireplace – same with the vial. My suggestion is to put it behind you once and for all. You've always had my blessing to marry Susie and you still do."

You don't want to s…?

Amelia replied "Susie and I don't need any horrible dreams. I'm guessing that Ragnok helped you…"

"He is a great listener and a wonderful friend. He spent countless days listening and helping me."

"Good. He clearly did a great job. We love you, Harry."

The fire crackled as the items burned up.

… - …

October 2004

They selected the Ladywood Estate near Oakham for their wedding and reception. It was a wonderful venue and easily accommodated the 300 _Must Invites_ that Amelia listed. On Harry's side, it was far simpler. There were a dozen friends from medical school, a dozen friends from Hogwarts, a dozen friends from Gringotts and the Hogwarts professors.

They were fortunate to have had excellent weather. Everyone had fun. Bill Weasley wished that he'd done the same rather than let his mum seemingly replan her own wedding.

From Harry's perspective, it was simple – agree to everything and write a dozen bank drafts. They and their 375 guests all had fun and the next morning, he and Susan were still happily married. They decided to defer a honeymoon for a few months.

Three days later, Harry delivered a baby and Susan rolled out a new series of memories – _Days_ of the Founders based on the memories of the gray lady ghost. Jammed full of action, history and tawdry romance, they were another best seller

… - …

…After 147 years, the Chudley Cannons finally won their division. They got quite a decent seeker when they hired Cormak, who had been working in sales for the Tutshill Tornados. Cormac wasn't great. They didn't need him to win games, they needed him to end games. Dennis Creevey proved to be an amazing keeper. Many of their games were complete shutouts. The other teams realized this and as often as not, if their team hadn't caught the snitch in the first thirty minutes they would be down by a hopeless spread and occasionally pointed out the snitch to Cormac to finish the game - while they still had a shred of dignity remaining.

Ron turned out to be a much better fan than player. Their store ran celebratory promotions and had giveways for a month. They did better than ever.

… - …

June 2005

The last lycan in the British Isles had been treated. Harry had received help from Amelia, Remus and most of all, the Lycans that he'd previously treated. He'd gotten the process down to three half-days of mutant cell removal on consecutive weeks followed by a recheck the day of the full moon. Effectively he could treat six patients a month but even at the reduced price of 100,000 pounds, there were only so many patients who could afford, or who could find sponsored funding for the treatment. His oaths with Windwalker and Tiffin prevented him from passing his techniques along.

He gave Erika an ounce of basilisk venom and expected that she traveled during the summers and treated Lycans around the world. Three years back, she had received an order of Merlin award and her picture was on a chocolate frog card. She later admitted that the fame had caused her many more problems than she ever expected.

She and Remus remained friends with benefits for all of their lives. They never married. Each was too set in their ways.

… - …

Sirius had loaded up his tugboat two years ago, said his farewells and spent the rest of his life on the sea or in ports. Harry and Susan met up with him a few times over the years. He enjoyed the life of being on the water, either by himself or in the company of expensive young women. He'd previously put most of his money in a trust for Harry, except for ten million galleons, which he kept as spending money.

May 2008

"Your old headmaster grew up seeing horses pulling carriages. He must have been sleeping the years that the Americans visited the moon. He was as insular, spending all those years in that castle as my people have been, living in the ground. I hope my grandchildren spend half of their lives in the sunshine. Do you recall the conversation that we had years ago about enemies and opponents?"

His eyes dazzling, Harry nodded

"I'd always wondered if he chose to view so many of the dark one's followers as mere opponents rather than the enemies that they were because he knew their parents and he taught them when they attended his school. It is unfortunate that he never taught them to think for themselves, to respect others, or that there were consequences for acting badly."

The old goblin's breath was labored. He said, "You always displayed courage, Harry – courage to fight the dark one and his followers, courage to destroy his pieces. Most of all, you displayed courage to make the world a better… a better place. I have always felt honored to be friends with you, Harry. I hope that you find happiness every day." He gave Harry's arm a squeeze.

Those were the last words that he spoke before passing away. Harry and Susan were honored to have been invited to his passing. His son, Ragnok the fifth saw them out and said, "Thank you for honoring my father as you have, Harry Potter."

Harry smiled at the younger goblin and said, "Your father's friendship was always a great honor to me, Director Ragnok. Please call me Harry."

The goblin replied, "I would be honored to, Harry. Please call me Ragnok as you did my father." He watched with much satisfaction as Harry helped his very pregnant wife out to the lobby to meet their two other children who were happily being entertained by Greentooth. The future looked brighter every day.

End

ooo ccc ooo

Thank you for following along. It had been a long time since an interesting story concept plopped onto my lap. It was a great time dusting off some of my favorite OCs.

I've always enjoyed doing the research for stories. I'd never had cause to look into degradation of fingerprints in water, or what first year medical school might look like. My favorite topic remains the Centurions that I used in Tom and Harry. This week it was real estate in Palermo Italy.

I was delighted when someone wrote a note telling me additional details about the school that I'd modeled Empire after.

It is fun learning about a topic, then distilling the concepts into a single, simple enough to follow metric. That was done magnificently in the movie Das Boot, where out of the thousands of pipes, pumps and the lot, they focused on the depth gauge. I used red blood cell counts.

It is also fun to develop back-story on some of the less-used characters. I've enjoyed doing so with Poppy, Amelia and the dentists and appreciate it when I see other storytellers take the time to add those details into a tale.

I'm actively working on Dan Granger again. I finally found my folder of chapter notes. I miss writing chapters out longhand but life goes on.

…

Last but not least, a few thoughts on leaving a note every now and then;

_"I promise to review (kindly) every fanfic I read whether it be fantastic, useless, or anywhere in between. I make this pledge because I know how frustrating it is for an author to have hundreds (or thousands) of hits and only a handful of reviews." Copy and paste this onto your profile if you promise to do the same._

…

Positive reviews are essential to the continuance of fanfiction. A chapter note is not the place to rip on a tale, be it your superior knowledge of physics, secondary schools, a slip in grammar, a continuance error, or the story concept itself.

Beyond that, there is little sense in arguing a point that has already been written. My favorite remains;

_A pistol...ew. I know you wanna change the story, but adding something so anathema to Harry Potter is not the way to do it.…_

That said, here's one storyteller's advice;

If you dislike a story, walk away.

If you absolutely feel the urge to write a clever flame - Write it out, read it to your cat then delete it. You've made your point. No storyteller ever wants to read it.

If you just spent three hours reading a tale, pay for it by spending three minutes leaving a thank-you note. You might inspire a storyteller into spending all of their free time for six months to write another.

Last, but not least, if you wanted the plot to go in a different direction, write your own tale. As Robst has mentioned, that way the rest of us will have something to read.

cheers


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